Dark Energy Trilogy

First, here is a link to Edition 3 of Dark Energy Trilogy, posted near the end of the last millennium. This was the last version of the story before I went back and renovated them in 2008 with a new plan and a new editress. ^^v No doubt, this version is far rougher and less focused than its successor. In particular, Reunion and Inheritance were both written with a coauthor, with whom I have lost contact. Thus, his characters and influence vanished in the current Edition 4. However, I still credit him with making Ryoko and Nagi sisters in Reunion, after I chose to have Nagi be a hybrid of Juraian and Ryoan blood.

Also, here is a link to a MSTing of Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black, posted around the time Reunion was first being written. MSTing, much like the original MST3K or its successor RiffTrax, had new authors insert commentary and parody dialogue between the story’s existing dialogue. Judging from the story itself, namely the opening’s use of Nerti over Mecha-Nerti, the MSTer used Edition 1, a very early example of my writing. I was 17-18 at the time. Now, some 15 years later, I find it a bit painful to read, but I see where I improved, particularly from the criticisms given by the MSTer. I give kudos to the MSTer in helping me improve. ^^v

A year after Kain destroyed the Galaxy Police headquarters, Washu considers the creature’s motives, leading to some sinister questions. However, she is interrupted by an unexpected arrival.

Tenchi Muyo! vs. Men in Black – Chapter 1, Part 1

Tenchi Muyo! vs Men in Black – Chapter 1, Part 2

Tenchi Muyo! vs Men in Black – Chapter 1, Part 3

Tenchi Muyo! vs Men in Black – Chapter 1, Part 4

Tenchi Muyo! vs Men in Black – Prologue, Chapter 1

However, this chapter is different from its predecessors. As a cross-over, this story pulls from two different mythos, Tenchi and Men in Black. As Chapter 1 was primarily Tenchi, Chapter 2 is primarily Men in Black, setting up what information would be necessary or of interest to the reader.

Also, I got to speculate a lot about interim scenes and backstories. woooo1

Without further ado, I present Tenchi Muyo! vs. Men in Black Chapter 2 — Induction.

Chapter 2, Part 1

Chapter 2, Part 2

Chapter 2, Part 3

Chapter 2, Part 4

Chapter 2, complete

Tenchi Muyo! vs. Men in Black – Chapter 3, Part 2

Tenchi Muyo! vs. Men in Black – Chapter 3, Part 3

Tenchi Muyo! vs. Men in Black – Chapter 3, Part 4

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Ryoko is a space pirate, and a powerful one. She could steal Tenchi away if she wanted to. She is brash, hotheaded, and stubborn. She isn’t a weak woman who submits to another’s word. She fights for what she wants. From her title alone, one can infer that she is sneaky, street-smart, and earthy.

As I wrote this segment, I thought of everything I loved about the cyan-maned fury. Remember her and what she means to you as you read this segment.

#FreeRyoko m/

The day dragged by Ryua Ryoko as she lounged in her shielded cell with nothing to do but wait. However, experience had taught her ways to pass the time, as well as to find liberation. Idly, she would create a ball of her scarlet power and fling it at the four walls, watching it ricochet. Using a slow lob, she could predict its behavior and avoid the pulse while she noticed how much punishment the shield could sustain. Considering that a prolonged struggle with her sword did not manage to penetrate the barrier, she was not surprised that her blasts ricocheted so many times.

As no one barged through the door to restrain her or flooded the cell with gas, the Ryoan woman grew a little bolder and lobbed a small blast at the ceiling. Not surprisingly, it bounced off and flew toward a wall, where it reflected down to the floor. Upon impact with the metallic floor, the energy did not ricochet or immediately dissipate, but rather burned into the gray surface.

Her amber eyes cut to the door, waiting for a guard to run inside the room. After a minute or two, she turned her gaze to the mirrored glass, her lips stretching into a devious smile.

They aren’t watching me, she noted. They’re probably too busy chasing Ayeka and Washu. The princess always did make a good distraction.

She walked to the one-way glass and lightly tapped on the surface, listening to the quiet reverberation. Again, no guards stormed inside to tie her down. Just out of the sight of the mirror, she summoned an orb of light and formed her ruby sword, lowering it to the floor. Slowly, she drew the weapon’s tip along the floor behind her, watching it cut into the floor with very little effort. Once more, she eyed the door and glass, observing no reaction.

They must not care about what’s below this cell, she reasoned. It’s probably impractical to tunnel out of here then. Besides, I don’t have days to burrow a hole either. I just need out of this room.

Zed had said that he would eventually give her to the Galaxy Police. The lady pirate needed a quicker exit, and she had just the way. She levitated into the air and drifted away from the glass, gathering filaments of her crimson light in her hands. Pressing her wrists together, she pushed the power in her grasp before her, her muscles straining as the energy at her command grew more wild. Once the fiery light between her palms nearly licked at her fingers, she released the blast to fly at the floor at the foot of the one-way mirror.

The impact rocked the entire floor of the complex, flickering the lights and spewing dust from the joints in the building. Startled, the agents manning the security checkpoints steadied themselves and checked their monitors, finding Ryoko’s cell filled with clouds of particles. Then, a second quake rippled through the building, spurring one guard to slam his fist into the alarm signal. Red lights and sirens blared throughout the headquarters as agents rushed to arm themselves, grabbing deatomizers and carbonizers from the armory. A third and a fourth strike shook the agents while they hurriedly opened the barricades leading to the cell below.

Meanwhile, Ryoko breathed heavily, four attacks of such magnitude testing her endurance. A thin barrier around her kept the particulate matter from entering her lungs as she knelt to inspect her handiwork. The heated bursts of power had cut a thin corridor under the defended wall, allowing her to see into the other half of the interrogation room. Now able to visualize her target, as well as having an undefended avenue, the Ryoan woman used another of her many innate talents, teleporting herself to Zed’s side of the mirror. Once inside, she could hear the sirens screaming throughout the complex.

Kicked a hornet’s nest, didn’t I? the lady pirate thought to herself.

Outside, she heard the storming feet of the agents drawing nearer. With only an oval table and a couple oddly shaped chairs, the room had little in the way of camouflage for a young fugitive. However, with a glance upward, she chose another trick from her arsenal.

Both the door in the cell and the door in the interrogation room were breached with a hiss of the pressure seals breaking. Four agents rushed through each portal and searched the respective rooms for the space pirate. The dust settling quickly, the cell team found the tunnel, but no other sign of Ryoko herself. Likewise, the interrogation room discovered no immediate signs of the rogue, save the small exit of the tunnel.

Then, above them, a whoosh of air caught their ears. All four men turned their deatomizers to the ceiling only to sight an afterimage of the culprit. Before they could react, the doors to both rooms closed and sealed, Ryoko’s smug face looking back through the minute window at them. Forming a small dagger from her ruby light, she melted and fused the controls to the doors, locking the agents inside.

The Ryoan woman tapped on the glass as she mocked them, the Cerulian words singing from her lips, “I’ll see myself out, boys.”

While they pounded on the door, the space pirate cursorily investigated the corridor surrounding her. Pressing her hand against the wall, she attempted to phase through it, using her ability to become incorporeal. Unfortunately, as with the walls of the cell, the structure resisted her, likely due to immense density or its construction. Moreover, she still could not sense her partner Ryo-Ohki.

So much for a quick way out, she surmised.

Ryoko noted the corridor was inclined, rising in the direction from which the agents had come. Reasoning that to be the most probable exit, she levitated into the air and darted forward through the hallway. Soon, she reached a sealed bulkhead, quite sturdy and heavy, impossible for her to move with her physical strength. Nearby, a guard station sat unmanned, likely because they were now locked in Ryoko’s cell. However, all the computers and monitors had instructions in English, which was sadly not a language the space pirate knew.

On the other hand, one of the displays showed the other side of the bulkhead, where some ten agents were gathered, weapons drawn. A couple of them were gathered at a terminal, typing away at the keyboard. Then, the sirens suddenly went silent, and the bulkhead’s locking pins loudly retracted before the portal began to lurch open.

They’re breaching, Ryoko realized as she ducked under the guard’s counter, just out of sight.

The agents flooded into this antechamber, searching for the fugitive. Listening, the rogue could hear as they rushed past the guard station, barking orders amongst themselves. Thankfully, the desk and counter of the station reached to the floor, hiding her from their immediate sight. Nevertheless, if they searched behind the counter, they would easily see her.

In that moment, a familiar voice whispered to the Ryoan’s mind.

There you are!

Ryoko immediately recognized Ryo-Ohki’s presence and responded in kind.

Where are you? Are you safe?

Yes, though I still feel weak.

The lady pirate could feel the lack of energy in her partner’s psychic link, sensing the aching structure of her crystalline body and the weariness of her recovery. On the other hand, the immediate danger of the agents searching for the young woman took priority.

Can you image where you are? Ryoko asked.

No problem, Ryo-Ohki responded, but I don’t think I can bring you here.

Don’t worry about that.

Through their mental connection, the gemstone craft sent a visual of her environment to her mistress’s thoughts. The angular vessel rested in a hangar filled with numerous other spaceships, ranging from a trite flying saucer to a machine with two forward-swept wings in a nearly vertical position. Moorings held all of the vehicles in place, and some, like Ryo-Ohki, were actually restrained to prevent any movement whatsoever.

Seeing the vision, Ryoko willed herself to vanish from the guard’s desk and reappear in the hangar near her ship. In another instant, she warped herself onto Ryo-Ohki‘s bridge, where the glass-like surfaces displayed the surrounding hangar as clear as a window. Below, she could see several agents scurrying around the deck, checking the moorings on the Ryoan vessel and grabbing weapons from nearby racks.

We can’t stay here long, she mused. Considering her options, she asked her companion, Can you fly?

I don’t think so, the ship answered wearily.

A window opened before her, listing the status of all of the craft’s systems. From the attack the previous night, the balancer and main anti-gravity components were still regenerating. The energy necessary to heal each has sapped most of Ryo-Ohki’s strength, leaving her incapable of flying safely, let alone blasting the hangar doors open.

Ryoko’s eyes hardened, infuriated that someone would dare harm her furry partner, especially without provocation. She had no intention of letting this trespass be ignored.

However, the practical matter of their escape remained her highest priority. They needed to become inconspicuous, to blend into the crowds outside quickly. Sadly, her cyan mane and cabbit companion, to say nothing of her fashion sense, would identify her immediately. They could not just run outside and disappear like on Heliotropis or Ryua, or even Jurai.

We need a vehicle, Ryoko reasoned.

Being surrounded by the Men in Black’s repository of impounded conveyances, the duo had their choice, but most were moored just like Ryo-Ohki. While Ryoko could cut through such moorings with her energy sword, the agents would likely notice and fire upon her in short order. Moreover, some of these vessels were foreign even to her, meaning she might not be able to pilot them.

Then, she found her ride.

Alright, Ryo-Ohki, her thoughts spoke to her partner. Are you okay to transform?

Yeah, the ship answered her, but I don’t think I’ll be able to fight with you.

You shouldn’t have to, she reassured her compatriot. Just follow my lead.

Okay. Are you sure about this?

Mostly, the fugitive admitted.

Again, Ryoko vanished, a whoosh of air filling the void left by her body. She reappeared across the hangar in the driver’s seat of a Crown Victoria, one of many parked along the chamber’s wall. Sinking low into the seat, she kept out of sight from the agents around her. Scanning quickly over the vehicle’s controls, she found them reminiscent of some roadsters she boosted on Todain long before she came to Earth.

And, admittedly, the larcenous woman had considered stealing a Terran car once or twice.

Meanwhile, Ryo-Ohki‘s hull shrank as she began her metamorphosis back into her cabbit form. The shift in mass freed her from the moorings, letting them swing free and clank noisily against the wall and nearby craft.

As the furry creature descended to the floor, several agents turned and took notice of the large crystalline spaceship replaced by a cute little animal. While dumbfounded at first, they soon raised their weapons at her and shouted in English for her to halt. Quickly, the feline-like hare darted to the concrete below and scurried under the nearest vehicle in the motor pool, an armored van.

As the agents flocked around the conveyance, reaching and yelling for Ryo-Ohki, Ryoko slowly peeked at the side mirror of her car. After shining flashlights under the van, the agents started arguing amongst themselves, seemingly lost.

Ryoko grinned. Are you inside? she asked Ryo-Ohki telepathically.

Yes, the furry creature replied, though I doubt they’ll take long to realize where I am.

Then, let’s give them something else to worry about, the fugitive answered.

With a thought, Ryoko teleported outside of the car and hovered over its top, as she called out to the agents.

“Hey, cops!” her Cerulian words hit their ears, spinning them toward her. “I think you’re looking for me!”

Promptly, the law enforcers forgot about the cabbit and focused on the Ryoan woman, her hands glowing a deep crimson. Their weapons trained on her, their English orders falling on her uncomprehending ears. With a smirk, she vanished, only reappear amongst them. Promptly, she punched the nearest agent in the gut before breaking the nose of the next.

The farthest agent raised his sidearm at her, but her golden eyes caught the motion and immediately teleported away. Her voice called to them from a door across the room.

“I’m over here, dumbass!”

Infuriated, most of the agents aimed and fired at her, but she slid into the open doorway, avoiding the shots and disappearing from sight again. As the agents charged through the door after her, she faded back into existence next to the van, shaking her head in amusement.

“So damned gullible.”

Snatching a vehicle key from a valet stand near the door, Ryoko flew to the corresponding vehicle and phased inside. No longer under siege, Ryo-Ohki passed through the wall of her hiding place and hopped her way into her mistress’s automobile. With a roar, the Crown Victoria awoke, the Ryoan woman squealing the tires as she peeled out of the parking space. Within moments, she screeched to a halt at the ramp leading out of the complex, blocked by a lowered metal barrier.

Calmly lowering the window and aiming her hand at the gate, the lady pirate summoned her red energy once more.

“Let’s check out of here, Ryo-Ohki.”

With a relieved mew, the cabbit concurred. Without hesitation, Ryoko blasted a hole in the impediment and zoomed her stolen Crown Victoria out onto the streets of Manhattan.

Elsewhere, Elle and Ar were returning to headquarters due to the alert that Ryoko had broken free. In transit, their transceiver squawked to life with Oh’s voice.

“Ar, we have a problem.”

“What’s happened?” he asked.

“Ryoko has fled headquarters in a stolen LTD. We are tracking the car on Church Street. You are the closest unit to intercept her.”

“Has she used super-speed system?”

“No, the car hasn’t transformed. You should be able to cut her off at 14th Street and detain her until backup can arrive.”

“I’m on it.”

With a glare to her partner, Elle added, “We’re on it.”

Once the transceiver went silent, Ar glanced to his trainee and retorted, “You don’t have a weapon, rookie. Take notes and stay out of the way.”

“You were ordered not to carry a weapon to keep from hurting the princess if we found her,” the good doctor barked back.

“The chief said no carbonizer or deatomizer. She didn’t say anything about my sidearm,” Reaching into his seat, he produced a copy of Jay’s chirping weapon, the Noisy Cricket. “Or this.”

“We’re only supposed to detain her until backup arrives.”

“We won’t need backup once I bring the pirate in myself.”

“Are you serious?” the former mortician asked incredulously. “After everything Oh told us about her, you think you’ll catch her solo?”

“She’s just one human woman,” Ar hissed in return. “She won’t be that much trouble.”

Insulted, Elle rebuked him, “Are you really that full of yourself? You’re going to chase after an enemy who just broke out from the fortified prison at headquarters, and is likely far more powerful than you, by yourself?”

“Just enjoy the ride,” he growled as he suddenly turned the car, shoving his trainee into the door frame.

Asshole! Elle mentally cursed as she recovered from his arrogant maneuver.

Meanwhile, Ayeka and Washu were hailing a taxi with Frank the Pug in tow. However, before they entered the vehicle, a beeping arose from Frank, giving the two women pause.

From his skin suit, the Remoolian produced a small device he placed to his folded ear. Not unlike a police scanner, the illicit tool monitored the transmissions used by MiB. Normally, these signals would appear to be unintelligible static between standard emergency bands and, thus, would be subsequently ignored. However, Frank’s scanner decrypted the signal, overhearing Oh’s exchange with Ar.

Curious, the princess inquired, “What’s the matter?”

“Sounds like your pirate pal broke out of MiB headquarters,” Frank relayed. “They’re going to try and snag her on 14th Street.”

Dammit, Ryoko, Ayeka cursed to herself. You’ve only made this situation worse. Turning to Frank, she asked, “How long would it take us to reach this 14th Street from here?”

“About 10-12 minutes, depending on traffic,” he answered. “What? Are you thinking of heading them off?”

“Exactly,” the princess acknowledged. “Ryoko may be a ruffian, but she isn’t in the wrong here. Tell the driver to make haste.”

“You do know what New York traffic is like, right?”

“Irrelevant,” she retorted, quite determined. “We need to rendezvous with Ryoko before this incident escalates any further than it has.”

The pug spun to Washu and asked, “Could you talk some sense into her? I mean, this is MiB we’re talking about, on their own turf.”

Plainly, the genius rhetorically stated, “Have you ever known royalty to change their mind? Besides, she’s right. Likely, her presence could have enough sway to fix this before someone gets too hurt.”

“Fine,” Frank grumbled. “This still sounds like a stupid idea.”

The two women piled into the cab while the Remoolian instructed the driver, another alien resident, to make all haste to Union Square Park, the nearest open area to the intercept point. After Frank slipped the cabbie a 100$-bill, the driver slammed down the accelerator and fishtailed into traffic, dodging cars as he went.

On University Place, Ryoko’s speeding Crown Victoria had attracted the attention of a couple of squad cars, both chasing her as she weaved through the early evening commuters. Her lip curled at the red and blue lights in her mirrors, as she schemed of ways to elude these officers.

Unfortunately, once she reached 14th Street, another vehicle plowed into the rear of hers, sending the car into a spin. Her tires cleared the curb and landed her in Union Square Park, the car awkwardly placed on a hill between two trees. Fortunately for Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki, the MiB unit deployed air bags and emergency harnesses, saving them both from any injuries more serious than a bruise or scratch.

Outside the car, the other vehicle, a second black Crown Victoria, hissed steam from its busted radiator. Its occupants had long since ejected themselves before the crash and were approaching the scene, one with weapons drawn.

Ar proudly smiled to himself. Though he sacrificed his conveyance, he had caught the infamous space pirate. There she was, dazed inside her stolen car, ready to be cuffed and returned to headquarters. Finally, both Zed and Oh would have to acknowledge his talents and skills. No more would he live in the shadows of the original agents like Kay or Dee. Bringing Ryoko back in chains would force everyone to respect him. There would no longer be talk of “overzealous”, “glory hound”, or “loose cannon”.

Behind him, Elle followed at distance, looking at all the chaos his stunt has caused. For a secret agent, she thought, he sure doesn’t give a damn about collateral damage.

Ar flashed his fake identification to the gathering crowd, declaring, “Federal agent, Division Six! Everyone stay back!”

Most of the people kept their distance, though sirens could be heard approaching the park. Soon enough, emergency services would be here, both from the city and from MiB. The determined agent had little time to take his captive.

Ar reached the stolen Crown Victoria when the door blew off its hinges with a burst of crimson light. From the vehicle, Ryoko emerged, her palms burning bright with her ruby energy, her amber eyes glaring coldly at the agent. Arriving a second later, Elle was taken aback by the sight of the infamous space pirate, strong and unbroken.

“Persistent bastards, aren’t you?” Ryoko remarked in Cerulian.

While Elle had seen a few subtitled films from Japan, she could not understand the Ryoan woman’s words. On the other hand, Ar had had plenty of training in the most common languages used by Manhattan’s extraterrestrial residents, including Cerulian.

“Put your hands up and come quietly,” he ordered in the same language as he raised his weapon, adding, “or I will put you down.”

Ryoko smirked and dared him, “Try it.”

With little hesitation, Ar fired his sidearm, sending a bolt of blue light at the pirate, who stood firm. The mass of energy impacted a spherical barrier around her, ricocheting the blast into a nearby tree.

Ryoko raised her hand toward the agent, her ruby power coalescing into a single orb. “And, we’re done here.”

Before she could attack, Ar fired his Noisy Cricket, shooting a large blast of green light at the pirate. Though the determined operative was knocked onto his rear by the recoil, Ryoko’s eyes widened at the incoming wave of energy. Dissipating her own attack, she focused her might into a barrier around herself, meeting the grand shot head-on. The force of the impact bowed her barrier and rent her from her feet, throwing her hard into the side of her damaged Crown Victoria.

Winded by the unexpected shot, Ryoko took a moment to recover, aching from the impact with the car. Ryo-Ohki mewed and hopped to the window of the vehicle, voicing her concern over their mental link. On the other side of the conflict, Elle came to Ar’s side to help him back to his feet. However, he refused her help and rose from the ground on his own, though slowly. Still, having seen the lady pirate deflect a shot from one weapon and take the brunt of another, the good doctor would not remain silent again.

“Ar,” Elle began, “she’s not simply an ordinary woman. We should wait for backup, like the chief ordered.”

“No!” Ar barked back. “She is my collar, and I’m not going to share it with you, or the cleanup crew.”

Pushing her aside, he leveled the Noisy Cricket at Ryoko again when another barrier manifested between the two parties. Surprised, both Ryoko and Ar turned to see Ayeka standing only a few meters away with Washu and Frank close at hand.

“That’s enough!” the Juraian princess demanded. “There is no need for any more violence!”

Ryoko looked over Ayeka in her current state of dress, still wearing the halter top and hot pants, and chuckled to herself.

“Ayeka? Is that you?”

“Yes, Ryoko,” the noblewoman answered. “Have you forgotten me already?”

“No, but I don’t remember you dressing like a slut either,” the pirate needled back.

“How dare you!” the princess fumed, and blushed. “I came to save you, and this is the thanks I get?!”

Although Elle did not understand their bickering, she did hear the name “Ayeka” amongst the Cerulian words. Despite the very out-of-character attire and dyed hair, the good doctor recognized the princess’s face from the pictures Oh had shown in their briefing.

“Hold on,” the former mortician said in English as she stepped toward the barrier, addressing Ayeka specifically. “You’re Princess Ayeka?”

Naturally, the princess recognized her name amongst Elle’s foreign words, but she too did not understand the other woman. Thankfully, Washu did.

“She is,” the genius declared in the same tongue. “There’s been a rather big misunderstanding here, and we’d like a chance to clear the air.”

“Our chief would like to do the same. We were assigned to find the two of you and escort you to her.”

Frank turned his eyes to Ar and shook his head, commenting, “Zed must be really low on manpower to put this loose cannon on a scratch-and-sniff like this.”

At the sight of a talking dog, Elle folded her arms and thought to herself, Only a matter of time, I suppose.

“Shut it, you Remoolian mutt!” the botched agent growled back. “We were sent to stop the space pirate Ryoko!”

“Only after she broke out of headquarters,” Elle corrected, “and only because we were the nearest unit.”

He glared at his temporary partner. “Whose side are you on, lady?”

“Apparently, not yours,” she quipped.

“While I have no doubt Ryoko’s been causing you a lot of trouble,” Washu admitted, “we think it might be best to discuss the situation a bit more civilly.” She glanced to Ar’s weapons. “Without shooting at each other.”

“I’d agree with that,” Elle responded before turning to her training partner. “What about you, Agent R?”

Without a word, she could see plainly in his eyes that all his aspirations were crumbling before his eyes. All the glory he wanted was fading away, all the recognition lost to the winds. His angry eyes slid from Elle to Ryoko, the prey he could have apprehended. He gripped his weapons tightly, wishing he could take another shot at her, frustrated at being blocked by not only this rookie, but also the princess he was to babysit.

Meanwhile, Washu explained to Ryoko and Ayeka that she had smoothed relations with the female agent, and that all should be well. Though the princess was pleased, the pirate remained skeptical, considering how the male agent was reacting to the situation. However, free from her bonds, she held solace in her ability to teleport or fly away in this open park if needed.

Then, blood splattered across Ayeka’s barrier and over Elle’s face and clothes. Startled, everyone turned to see Agent R look down at a hole cauterized through his chest. Another blast of energy vaporized his head from his shoulders before his body could slump to the ground. The princess screamed in terror while the pug resisted vomiting from the sight. The scientific genius and mortician were both stunned into silence while the pirate’s gaze grew distant, rising to meet those of the assailant.

Behind the agent’s remains stood a man, his eyes slightly glazed, his hand outstretched toward Ar’s corpse. Dressed in military fatigues, the new arrival moved unnaturally: elbows and wrists bending where they should not, body bulging notably where it should not. Despite the shock of the blood splatter, Elle recognized this type of motion, the same as her attacker from the night before.

“Y-you?!” she stuttered. “You’re a…!”

The murderer ignored her and instead focused on Ryoko, only on her.

“There you are,” he uttered in Cerulian, “Ryua Ryoko.”

The Ryoan’s skin crawled as she summoned her bravado and rhetorically asked, “Why does everyone want me today?”

“Old debts need to be paid,” he replied cryptically as he lurched forward.

Before he could proceed far, another Juraian shield manifested around him. He turned his glare to Ayeka, who, though still shaken by the murder, had regained her senses.

“No farther, murderer!” she declared.

“Ah,” he hissed as his eyes narrowed on her, “a Juraian noble.”

Beneath his skin, a glow emerged, shifting to a deep purple as he extended his hand to her barrier. Talons of black energy spawned from his fingertips, which he thrust into her construct. Once his power touched hers, filaments burst forth, red and blue, as the two powers dueled with one another. Ayeka strained to maintain her field, but the foe ripped apart the defensive shell within a few seconds, startling the princess.

How could he cut through my shield so easily? she asked herself.

Immediately, a ruby bolt flew from Ryoko’s hands into the strange man’s face, clouding him in particles from the impact. Forming her energy sword, the space pirate darted at him, drawing her weapon back to strike, when an identical weapon swung back at her. The two red blades ground against one another as the cloud cleared, showing the damage to his face.

Ryoko’s attack at severed the man’s jaw and ripped a gash of flesh off his face, revealing what was beneath. Instead of sinew and muscle, insectoid mandibles clacked and hissed at her, Illirg’s true body compressed inside the corpse of his host.

“Ryoan bitch!” he growled as his monstrous strength thrust her back, giving him room to swing his own scarlet weapon.

Teleporting out of range, Ryoko too was taken aback by his power, his sword nearly a twin of her own, to say nothing of the horrifying image of a bug wearing a man’s skin.

Illirg, this nightmarish creature of torn flesh and hard carapace, then levitated, his stolen skin illuminated by a crimson glow beneath its surface. He flew at Ryoko, imitating her attack from moments ago. The lady pirate cursed under her breath as she dodged his first swipe and clashed with his second, teleporting behind him to cut along his back. The wound revealed more of his insectoid carapace, but did not actually harm the true beast inside, as he turned to strike at her.

Then, Ayeka’s mini-guardians chimed into existence around Illirg, encircling him and separating him from Ryoko. He roared at her as the glow beneath his skin changed from red to purple again. When the princess ignited her mini-guardians with bolts of her Jurai power, he created a barrier of his own, black in color, which expanded and shattered her constructs. The psychic backlash staggered the regal lady while the pirate reengaged her enemy.

Meanwhile, Washu had already summoned her phantom laptop and was scanning the newly revealed foe. However, even the great genius was surprised by what data she was receiving from him. Though her findings were preliminary, the creature was exhibiting characteristics of both Juraian and Ryoan races, encased in a giant insect’s body, as well as…

No, she argued with herself, that can’t be right. How the hell could he also have…?

This situation had escalated far beyond her expectations, battling an unknown creature in the middle of the city, a man murdered before their eyes. Ryoko and Ayeka alone might not be enough to handle this creature, let alone the agents who were starting to arrive.

Washu grabbed Frank the Pug and asked, “What’s the nearest large hotel?”

As the conflict continued, Elle gathered her wits, accepting the bolts of energy and inhuman monster. She turned to the body of her fallen partner, where his weapons had fallen a short distance from his hands.

Ryoko and Illirg’s swords clashed time and again until the hideous creature slid away and throw his weapon at his opponent, forcing her to protect herself with a shield. As she recovered, Illirg outstretched his hand toward her, the skin ripping open as his true claws emerged, burning with a black aura.

“Now,” he hissed with a pleased tone, “as my queen has decreed.”

Then, Elle called out to him, “Hey, bug!”

He turned to her to see Ar’s Noisy Cricket in her hands, aimed directly at him.

“Remember me?” she asked rhetorically as she pulled the trigger, firing a large green blast at him.

His mandibles flared as he roared, the shot plowing into him, sending him into the sky. However, the recoil of the weapon threw Elle to the ground, knocking her head against the dirt. Concussed, the good doctor lost sense of her surroundings and, within a few moments, her consciousness.

“Why the hell would you do that?!” Ryoko demanded.

“I did what I thought was best,” Elle retorted.

In the lobby of the Gramercy Park Hotel, the space pirate stood with Ayeka at her side and Ryo-Ohki on her shoulder. Before her was the good doctor, flanked by Washu and Frank, who had returned from contacting Zed at MiB headquarters.

“The plan was that you guys all head to their headquarters and sort this mess out,” the cyan-maned fury argued. “There wasn’t anything in the deal about them coming here!”

“You really want us to slog over to Battery Park with this monster loose?” the raven-haired agent rebuked. “You might relish the idea of it going after you, but I’m not fond of it chasing me to get to you!”

“The plan hasn’t really changed, Ryoko,” Ayeka interjected. “The agents will come here and escort the the four of us to their headquarters, while you and Ryo-Ohki avoid being seen.”

“Originally, the agents weren’t going to be looking for us to be here,” Ryoko countered. “What do we do, Ayeka, if they do see me and Ryo-Ohki? This is the same kind of scheme that nearly got us caught at that Juraian border station. If the station’s commander hadn’t been your uncle…!”

Offended, the princess folded her arms and barked back, “If you weren’t a space pirate…!”

“That’s enough!” Washu yelled at all three of them. “We can’t undo what’s been done.” She turned to Ryoko and added, “And, arguing about it leaves less time for you to make a quick exit, Ryoko.”

Though anger had hardened Ryoko’s heart, her mind still registered the minute scientist’s cue. Seconds were ticking away, bringing the agents closer to her location, closer to caging her again.

Her amber eyes met Elle’s as the pirate coldly said, “Yeah. A quick exit.”

Ryoko’s gaze followed the novice agent as the Ryoan woman walked up to and then through a nearby wall. Like a seething specter, the ghostly way she vanished through the solid object only chilled Elle to witness, those yellow eyes lingering for a moment before phasing away.

“It’s not like I want her arrested again,” the former mortician commented.

“You’re definitely a newbie then,” Frank commented. “Most MiB wouldn’t have hesitated.”

“She’s not the real problem, but it’s not like I have the equipment to take out this bug alone. Even that ‘Tenchi’ with Zed spoke up for her.”

“Tenchi?” the princess asked, her ruby eyes brightening at his name. “Lord Tenchi is here?”

“It was Tenchi, alright,” Washu confirmed, “and Kiyone was with him, probably looking for us.”

Elle nodded and added, “He was very worried about the two of you.”

The regal-tressed woman glanced to the side. “Both of us?”

“He was very adamant that the two of you had nothing to do with Ar’s murder,” the good doctor continued, “but also argued vehemently with Zed about arresting Ryoko.”

The Juraian’s heart sank a bit, a spark of jealousy shooting through her mind. Her eyes narrowed as she remarked, “He is too kind for his own good at times.”

“What is it between you two anyway?” Elle inquired. “You’re a princess. She’s a pirate, and I take it he’s a prince?”

“It’s… complicated.”

Across the room, the lobby’s door opened and allowed a black-suited man to enter the building. Wearing the dark sunglasses of the Men in Black, the bald man stiffly scanned the room before sighting Elle and her party. Slowly, he approached them, walking very methodically and catching the attention of both Washu and Frank.

The genius motioned to the physician. “Looks like our ride has arrived.”

“Looks like,” Elle answered as she extended her hand to the recent entrant. “Agent L,” she introduced herself.

The man glared coldly at her as he scanned over the party again. His gravelly bass voice droned back to her, “Where is the Ryoan pirate?”

“She took off,” she said honestly before waving toward Ayeka and Washu, “but Zed wants them safely back at headquarters.”

“I have no interest in them,” the man retorted as he rigidly turned away from her. “Where is the pirate?”

Insulted, Elle scowled at the agent and rebuked him, “I might have only worn the suit for a couple days, but I know what the boss said. He wants these two escorted to safety.”

As the agent icily ignored her, Frank watched him closely, how the man moved so rigidly. Also, the man was alone, begging the question about his partner’s whereabouts. Moreover, he seemed so focused on Ryoko, notably ignoring the royal dignitary.

And, the pug thought, he shouldn’t be here after only 10 minutes.

Likewise, Washu caught the same signs, as well as a distinct pallor to the man’s flesh. Taking a step back, she whispered to Frank, “That common behavior for MiB agents?”

“He’s not an agent,” the informant answered, motioning toward the princess.

Before either could alert Ayeka, Elle grabbed the unnamed agent’s shoulder and demanded, “Hey! I said that Ryoko’s not…!”

The man swung back to her and wrapped his hand around her throat, lifting her off of the floor. The physician grasped at his hand, her nails digging into the thin veil of flesh, revealing the green carapace of her insectoid foe. Her eyes widened with the realization of the faux agent’s identity, Illirg in a new flesh suit.

“Enough of your prattle,” he hissed, his mandibles rattling just inside the skin’s mouth.

“Release her, creature!” Ayeka ordered, her mini-guardians chiming into existence around Illirg.

He sneered back at the princess. “Give me the Ryoan pirate, and I will return her.”

A whoosh of air sounded behind Illirg when a ruby energy blade plunged down through his back and out his belly, deftly missing Elle. His grip on her throat loosened, letting her drop to her feet and quickly join those with Ayeka. Turning back, she saw Ryoko hovering just behind Illirg, her ethereal sword thrust through the faux agent’s body.

“You called?” the Ryoan rogue whispered to her adversary.

With Elle clear, Ryoko and her weapon vanished, leaving a hole punched through his gut. On cue, Ayeka raised her hand toward the concealed monster, and her mini-guardians ignited with her Juraian energies, shocking and irradiating the fiend. Beneath his stolen meat, a deep purple glow arose as he created a black barrier around himself, much like he did before. Seeing the shield, the princess gritted her teeth and intensified her assault, summoning more of her power, the bolts around Illirg growing more powerful and more wild.

Yet, she did not penetrate his barrier, despite the energy she sent forth. Watching her power grow wild, a fear entered her eyes as she restrained herself, her heart pounding heavily in her chest.

Around them, the management and guests to the hotel began to scream and escape the scene, calling authorities or gawking at the light show. Many of these calls were intercepted by the MiB, which set immediately to mitigating the coming fallout. In particular, the details were forwarded to Jay and Mitsuki, who were already on their way to the hotel. The MiB agent cursed as he slammed his foot on the accelerator, weaving through traffic, still minutes away.

Illirg’s eyes glared angrily at Ayeka as he held his wound, not mortal due to his folded insectoid physiology. At the Juraian’s side, Ryoko reappeared and held her palms aloft together, charging a large mass of her scarlet power, which quickly took a fierce bullet-like shape. Ayeka silenced and recalled her mini-guardians while her cyan-maned ally loosed her shot at the monster, who waited for it to come.

He stepped aside, letting the shot pass as his barrier vanished.

Taken aback, the pirate and the princess glanced at each other before the creature manifested an orb of black light and launched it directly at the noblewoman. Quickly, she generated a force field through her mini-guardians, but the dark energy smashed into her shield, cracking it, knocking her back against the lobby’s hospitality desk. Ryoko called to her compatriot, but before she could act or receive an answer, the creature was upon her, its exposed carapace glowing red, holding his own copy of her sword. Reacting, she teleported behind the fiend and molded her sword anew, thrusting at his back again.

However, as the carapace glowed this crimson color, the blade would not penetrate.

“Not this time, bitch,” he snarled as he whirled toward her, his sword swiping at her.

Ryoko’s blade clashed against Illirg’s, sparks flying from the exchanged strikes. Each swing from Illirg grew stronger, impacting Ryoko’s sword harder each time, nearly snapping the young woman’s arm after five hits. However, his arm became sluggish, and she wilily evaded the following strokes. She retaliated with fast and precise swipes at his extremities, but these wounds were only superficial, only cutting the fleshy disguise and not his true armored body.

Meanwhile, Elle rushed to Ayeka’s side, checking her for injury, while Washu and Frank ducked behind the hospitality desk. As the physician helped the Juraian woman to her feet, the researcher was observing and recording the battle before them. Though Illirg could mimic Ryoko’s sword and ability to fly, he did not teleport or phase as she did. Likewise, he mimicked Ayeka’s barrier, although using NVO energy rather than Juraian, but did not seem to manifest her mini-guardians. Moreover, he mimicked Kain’s claws, but not his higher abilities.

What’s limiting him? she wondered.

Illirg roared in frustration as his skin suit became increasingly more tattered. He threw his blade at Ryoko, forcing her to roll to the side. His carapace shone a brilliant emerald, switching from the ruby Ryoan energy to the green of Juraian. Viridian talons extended from his fingertips as he swung at the lady pirate, clashing with her sword. For a moment, sparks flew from the contact of his ethereal claws with her energy edge.

Then, her sword shattered as his free hand thrust forward, grabbed her throat, and slammed her to the ground.

“Now, hold still,” he commanded, his carapace shifting back to a deep purple. The stolen skin ripped away from the chitinous plates on his arm as it burned black once again. “This little game ends.”

Ryoko struggled against his strength and weight bearing down upon her, the black flames rolling down his arm, seeking to shroud her in darkness. As the onyx fire touched her neck, the pirate began to hear a distant voice whispering into her mind, almost inaudible at first. Staring up at the sagging flesh of Illirg’s skin suit, fear crept into her soul as the voice began to grow louder. Then, she heard a single full word in her mind, and shivers shot through her spine when she placed the woman’s voice.

Daughter.

Then, two powerful blasts impacted Illirg’s back and rent him from his feet, casting him across the room, away from his prey. The onyx fire remained connected to the bug’s arm, flying with him as it peeled away from Ryoko’s throat. The unfamiliar vocalization left her mind as she pushed herself up to see her apparent rescuers.

In the entrance stood Jay and Mitsuki, heated vapors wisping from each person’s weapon barrel. The fully trained MiB agent hefted his tri-barreled plasma cannon onto his shoulder while the GP liaison lowered her fusion bazooka.

“Roaches be huge in New York,” Jay quipped.

“Jay?” Elle inquired, not expecting him to arrive.

“Girl, you need to stop hanging around bugs,” he playfully chided her. “A guy might get the wrong impression.”

Flustered, she retorted, “Not the time, Jay!”

“It’s not finished!” Ayeka called out to them.

Everyone followed her line-of-sight to see Illirg rise back to his feet, his skin suit sickeningly mangled, his green carapace and folded body clearly visible. His exposed claws grasped the flayed skin and tore it away, splattering the remnants onto the ground as he unveiled his true form, a gigantic mantis. Unpacking his segmented body, he towered easily twice Jay’s height, supported by his four hind limbs while his two manipulative appendages flared, displaying his menacing talons. Still, his right arm burned black with the flames that had begun to speak to Ryoko, this sentient blaze. His compound eyes focused on Jay and Mitsuki as he roared, his mandibles open intimidatingly wide.

Neither of the two arrivals hesitated as they leveled their weapons and fired again at Illirg. While their blasts flew at him, his carapace glowed a bloody crimson as he summoned Ryoan energies. The two energy bolts smashed into the mantis and, to his surprise, toppled the bug, slamming him through the back wall. Confidently, Jay and Mitsuki began to advance when the monster’s color changed to deep purple, NVO energy in use. A dark sphere emerged around the insect as it marched back toward his opponents, the barrier burning into the floor and ceiling. Again, Mitsuki and Jay fired upon him, but the shots ricocheted off the shield and ripped through the hotel’s structure instead.

Illirg’s mandibles twisted into a grotesque sneer as he hissed, “Goddamn humans.”

Toward Mitsuki and Jay, the beast raised his talons as he transferred his power from the shield into his hands. However, Ayeka’s mini-guardians surrounded him, turning his attention to the Juraian princess once again. When he spun to face her, Ryoko appeared between them, sword in hand, cutting down across his face. Injured, the beast recoiled away, swatting the Ryoan woman into her Juraian ally, and loosing his blasts into the hotel. Mitsuki and Jay both dodged debris from the impacts while Ryoko and Ayeka landed hard next to the hospitality desk.

As he reeled from the facial wound, Illirg heard the fiery entity in his mind demand, Remember your purpose! The Ryoan girl!

“I know!” the beast growled aloud as he swung back to Ryoko and Ayeka.

The gargantuan mantis wiped his viscous blood from his face before raising his burning right arm toward the two young women. The flames coalesced into an onyx orb in his palm, purging the entity from his body and into this ethereal projectile. Ryoko and Ayeka had just returned to their feet when he launched the entity toward them, toward the space pirate herself.

However, the princess’s ruby eyes caught sight of the projectile and pushed her friend aside. The kimono-clad woman raised her hands and willed a force barrier into existence around herself just before the entity contacted the barrier’s surface. The entity screamed and burned against the Juraian energy of her shield, but as before, her shield cracked, letting part of the black fire shoot into Ayeka’s chest.

For an instant, the Juraian noblewoman stood there stunned, feeling the wound, pain punching through her chest. Then, the pain spread throughout her body, every fiber of her Juraian body reacting to this dark shot to her heart. Only darkness followed when her senses became too overwhelmed to cope.

While Ayeka’s body fell lifelessly to the floor, Illirg stepped back, realizing that the “seed” had missed its intended target. He examined his situation: his skin suit destroyed, sirens in the distance, Ryoko returning to her feet, the GP and MiB operatives already barking their demands. While he held firm against these four combatants, more foes would be difficult.

I need to regroup before more arrive, he reasoned, and I should seek my queen’s counsel.

With that, his carapace turned scarlet with Ryoan energies as he flew upward and blasted through the ceiling. He blew through subsequent floors until he reached the roof and rocketed away from the scene.

As the dust of battle settled, Ryoko coughed and scanned her surroundings for her enemy. However, her amber eyes fell on her rival’s immobile body, attended by Washu and Elle. The pirate’s skin grew cold, her mind unable at first to process what she was seeing. Her heart sank watching the two professionals spouting jargon to one another over her rival, her friend.

Then, she saw Mitsuki and Jay walking toward her with their weapons aimed at her. Her eyes glanced at Ayeka one last time while Mitsuki began ordering her to surrender. Within the pirate’s heart, her loyalty to her friends warred with her desire to be free, and in this instance, the latter won. Ryoko faded away before either Mitsuki or Jay could reach her.

This scene greeted Tenchi and Kiyone as they too arrived at the Gramercy Park Hotel, far too late to help.

Like most cities, New York had plenty of niche hole-in-the-wall bars scattered throughout its boroughs, each catering to a particular taste and clientele. Naturally, with its secretive extraterrestrial population, the island of Manhattan had a selection of watering holes for visitors and residents alike. To keep the neutrals out, most worked not unlike prohibition speakeasies, requiring passwords for entry. Of course, the Men in Black licensed the barkeeps and helped them stock their exotic beverages, as well as keeping a loose oversight in case any bar fight got out of hand.

As the sun was setting this night, the cyan-maned Ryua Ryoko approached just such an establishment off 18th Street and Irving. A slit-like window opened, allowing the bouncer to peer down at the voluptuous Ryoan woman.

“Password,” the gruff man’s voice demanded.

“Yoda howrs at midu-naito,” she responded in broken English. The past hour of eavesdropping had allowed her to catch the password, but sadly, her command of the language was nonexistent. Thankfully, the Washu’s transducelator helped her at least understand most conversation.

The slit closed before the door opened, revealing a tall and muscular humanoid. Blinking with vertical eyelids, his four eyes focused on Ryoko. He stepped aside and allowed her to enter, shutting the door behind her.

In a gruff and hissing voice, he said in Cerulian to her, “Fresh off the boat?”

“Just passing through,” she replied coolly.

To her left was a wall-mounted rack, where several skin suits hung rather macabrely, each fully dressed. Thankfully, all were artificial, no doubt issued by the MiB to conceal the identities of their alien residents. The bouncer motioned to a sign amongst the skin suits, reading “Check your suit at the door” in a selection of languages.

While she did feel insulted at the idea of her body being fake, Ryoko glared back at him, her amber feline eyes narrowing and mildly glowing in the dim light. She pointed to her eyes and her elfin ears.

“I’m all natural.”

“Lucky you,” he grumbled back.

She cracked her knuckles at her side, pushing to the side her urge to punch him through the door. She had a purpose in visiting this tavern, and she did not need a slight to detract her from that goal.

Continuing into the main parlor, the space pirate recognized the general layout of the establishment: a bar near the back, games such as pool and darts along the side, dining and card tables distributed around the main chamber, a small clearing for dancing to the music pumping through the speakers overhead. She was reminded of many of her favorite haunts throughout the galaxy, as well as the nights she stayed their drinking and partying until closing. She also knew well the type of people who frequented such a place. The regulars were sitting at the bar, nursing their poison of choice. Swindlers were slyly liberating dollar after dollar from their mark’s wallet in the games. Old friends were trading tales and jokes over a pint at the tables. A couple lonely souls were eying the dance floor, hoping for someone to step up first.

Ryoko took a seat at the bar, motioning the barkeep to her stool. The purveyor of liquor was vaguely humanoid, but had three sets of arms, which was likely advantageous to handling multiple or complex drink orders. Already, he was mixing another beverage for another customer on the opposing end of the counter.

“What’s your sauce, luv?” he inquired with a slight aquatic gurgle to his voice, and a slight British accent.

“Got any Ryoan ale?”

“Sorry,” he apologized, “but we can’t afford to import anything from the Jurai Empire.”

“How about Heliotopan vodka?”

“Now, that I have!”

“Good,” she acknowledged. “Can I get that straight with a chilled glass?”

“Of course, ma’am.”

As the being behind the counter retrieved a chilled glass from a nearby refrigerator, Ryoko’s feline eyes scanned over the attendees of the tavern. Her piratical experience had taught her how to identify both threats and prey, and tonight, she had a particular flavor of prey in mind. Thanks to some idle chatter with Frank the Pug before last night’s battle, she had learned several informants and shady figures frequented this establishment.

And, one of them might know about the bug, she reasoned.

The barkeep set her drink near her hand, and she casually paid him with a GU treasury note, tipping quite generously.

“You don’t mind if I hang out here for a while, do you?” she asked.

Pleased at his payment, he answered, “Not at all, ma’am. Just let me know what you need.”

“I’ll do that.”

For the next couple of hours, the space pirate kept to herself, nursing one drink after another. While she got a nice warmth from the liquor, her goal was not to get drunk, but rather to blend into the atmosphere. In a shadowy end of the bar, keeping to herself, she could watch the various extraterrestrials go about their business, be it to unwind after work or to engage in some shady deals. Tipping the bartender well kept him pleasantly and tacitly complacent in her scheme.

Finally, at nearly 10pm, Ryoko found her target. From the front entrance, the bouncer allowed a wiry humanoid to enter the bar. Just over a meter tall, the vaguely masculine figure scuttled to the bar and ordered a cheap Terran bourbon. His face was smooth and flat, his nostrils merely slits between his bulbous, frog-like eyes. He sat alone and downed his drink immediately, quickly requesting another in short succession.

Sipping her vodka, Ryoko recognized this being, Galluck Chroke, and thanks to Mihoshi’s idle babbling about the news and work, the pirate knew a little about the man. About three years ago, Chroke had defected to the Galactic Union from the intelligence agency on his home-world of Keporolis. In so doing, he had brought evidence that Keporolis had been gathering detailed information about several GU worlds: documents of high-ranking officials, locations of military maneuvers, weaknesses of strategic networks. Naturally, Keporolis had denied any malicious intent, but Chroke had spoken of invasions and infiltrations, as well as what the retaliation would bring upon his world. Needless to say, political connections between the GU and Keporolis had since disintegrated, and Chroke had become a pariah and had lived in exile.

And, word was that Chroke never stopped collecting intelligence.

While the supposed whistle-blower downed his first shot of the night, a whoosh of air gusted at his side. Glancing in that direction, he found Ryoko taking a seat next to him, her lips set in a musing smile. Her feline eyes widened in the dim light, becoming increasingly more black and menacing to him as her gaze pierced him.

“C-can I help you?” he stumbled in his anemic and cracking voice.

“I think you might,” she purred in her melodic tones. “I’m new in town, and I wanted to know a little about the town.”

“W-well, you can just ask the MiB,” he retorted waving to the barkeep. “I just live here.”

“As you might imagine, the MiB don’t know everything,” she countered, her eyelids narrowing, “and I have it on good authority that you have information that they don’t.”

“Y-you don’t say?” he stammered as the barkeep poured him another shot. “I doubt they would work with a Ryoan pirate anyway.”

Her smile widened. “So, you know who I am?”

“No, but I recognize your features,” the informant explained. “Judging from your humanoid form with minor feline traits, you are likely either from Ryua or Pentinon. Given your statement about the MiB, I would presume you are Ryoan rather than Pentinian. If Ryoan, you are more likely a pirate than a cleric.”

The pirate nodded. “Pretty good. Then, what can you tell me about bugs with energy swords?”

His brows raised as he quickly downed his liquor. She sipped her vodka once more and set it aside as she watched him carefully. His dry skin began to grow moist with amphibian perspiration, his bulbous eyes shook with a subtle, fearful tremor.

Coolly, she added, “I’m sure someone with your connections would have heard of something like that.”

“I-I…” the frog-like man stuttered, “… T-there’s no such thing.”

At this denial, Ryoko’s smile faded away. “So, you haven’t heard about the MiB agent who was killed a couple nights back?”

“Everyone has,” he answered, “and the APB from that night regarded a Ryoan woman, not a bug.”

A glare manifested in her eyes. “And, the APB from last night?”

“It still mentioned a Ryoan woman!” he barked back at her.

A scowl crossed her brow as she demanded, “And, what else?”

His eyes darted from side to side, noticing that the patronage of the bar had begun to take note of their increasingly heated exchange. Most notably, two shady figures near a pool table cracked their knuckles and headed in the direction of the frog-man.

“It doesn’t matter,” he avoided as he slipped off his stool. “I have to go.”

Frustration finally taking hold, Ryoko grabbed his shirt collar and forced him back to his seat. Her amber eyes glowed around the darkness of her dilated pupils, her determination growing into anger.

“No, you don’t,” the Ryoan pirate corrected. “You have to stay right here and tell me what you know.”

The two shady figures arrived, two quite stocky men, each dressed in a black suit like the Men in Black. The patrons of the bar all backed away, some even slipping out the exits at the sight of apparent law enforcement. Each of these suited men placed a hand on Chroke’s shoulder.

“Come with us, please,” one of the men croaked.

“We need to speak with this being,” uttered the other.

Chroke froze in fear while Ryoko too was taken aback by the two apparent MiB agents. However, they went after the frog-man, not the space pirate. Then, there was the strange sound of their voices. Moreover, she had not seen any other Terrans in this speakeasy, let alone agents like these.

And, she would not be stopped by two fake agents when information was literally in her grasp.

“No,” she retorted, gripping Chroke’s shirt tighter, “I have questions for this guy!”

“Release him,” one of the men ordered with an angry gargle.

When the brick-like man reached for Ryoko, the pirate tossed her quarry behind her before ramming her fist into the aggressor’s gut. His eyes went wide as he gasped for air and fell to his knees. Meanwhile, his compatriot rushed toward the Ryoan woman, who vanished from his grasp. Confused, he swung his head from side to side to find her, only for her to reappear atop the counter and smash an empty bottle of liquor over his head.

The broken glass cut into the skin of the man’s head, revealing his flesh merely to be a disguise, just like the suits taken at the entrance. Beneath, his true skin had a similar tone and texture to Chroke’s.

“I knew you bastards weren’t Men in Black!” she declared as she grabbed his false skin and tore it away.

With the mask removed, Ryoko could see the being’s true nature, a bulkier member of Chroke’s race. The wounded figure laid unconscious and bleeding from the lacerations in his scalp, but alive nevertheless.

However, while she was focused on his identity, she did not notice his companion swing a chair at her back. The wooden frame broke across her as she screamed and collapsed on the floor herself. Taking a bottle and breaking it against the counter, the remaining aggressor aimed to exterminate this irritation. As she rolled onto her side and looked up at him, Ryoko saw the makeshift blade draw back.

Then, her attacker saw the ruby light gathered in her hand, flying straight at his face.

The orb of energy burst and knocked him backward, scorching and melting the Terran mask. The heat burned against his amphibian skin, and the fumes stifled his breathing, forcing him to rip the false flesh from his head. Coughing and blinded, he did not see the Ryoan woman teleport back to her feet and thrust her knuckles into his jaw, twice. Rocked and disoriented, he fell at last.

Her chest heaving from her exertion, Ryoko stood victorious as the patrons wandered back, looking at the two fake agents. As the barkeep rose from behind the counter, she left a few more currency notes for him.

“Close me out. I’ve had enough here.”

Stepping away from the two fallen bodies, she caught a glimpse of Chroke running out of the front entrance. With a heavy sigh, she vanished from sight and reappeared outside, where she grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a darkened alley. The momentum flung him a few feet away from her as she stalked him slowly, her angry gaze falling upon him.

“Look,” she began. “I don’t really care who you are or what your problems are, but I just saved your ass. You owe me.” Cracking her knuckles, she added, “So, answer me.”

Holding up his webbed hands defensively, Chroke relented, “Okay, okay! I caught the MiB’s chatter about you and your friends’ encounter with the bug Illirg.”

“Illirg?”

“Yes, that’s the name he used in his own communiques. The MiB probably haven’t intercepted them since he’s using a quantum entangled transmitter. The data exchange is nearly instantaneous and undetectable, unless you look for the subspace checksum sent in parallel. If you don’t know about it, you’d think it was just background radiation.”

With a roll of her eyes, she impatiently folded her arms and stated, “I don’t care how he’s doing it. I want to know who he is, and where he is.”

“He appears to be an engineered creature, designed to be an assassin, and this is his trial run. As to where he is, the last subspace checksum I intercepted was sent from somewhere in Brooklyn, around Third and Wythe.”

“As good a lead as any,” she accepted before she motioned back toward the main road. “Mind hailing me a cab?”

“So long as I don’t have to wait for you. No offense, but I’m not keen on hanging around a wanted felon.”

The edge of her lip curled as she suppressed her desire to retort, merely replying, “You can do whatever you want, after you get me there.”

“Deal.”

People swarmed around Jurai Ayeka’s bedside as she laid motionless, sweat rolling down her unnaturally pale skin. Her breath wheezed slowly and deeply from her bluish lips while a rapid beeping from the nearby cardiac monitor paced her heightened heart rate. The physiological shock from the Jurai and NVO energies warring in her body has begun to tip against the princess.

The scrub-clad physicians had already fitted her with a tight-fitting mask and an intravenous drip bag, hoping to feed her enough oxygen and hydration to keep her stable. However, their medical treatments have not addressed the root cause of her predicament, the two opposing ethereal powers.

Agent H, the chief of medicine in the Men in Black and the attending physician, wedded his latex-covered fingers. He had drawn from his past three decades of treating extraterrestrial illnesses, as well as a local copy of the Science Academy’s medical database, but the former heir apparent had not responded. Anaphylaxis treatments had slowed her degradation, yet it had been a losing battle with time.

Frustrated, Aitch turned to a nurse and ordered, “Get Dr. Hakubi in here.”

“Right away, doctor!”

Hakubi Washu had been advising them on treatment options, but she had disappeared these last few hours. Reportedly, she had been studying the tissue samples left by the mantis creature in order to understand and combat the threat. Sadly, this academic pursuit might not be in time to save the princess’s life.

Agent L arrived at Aitch’s side and was taken aback seeing Ayeka pale-skinned and blue-lipped. Having interacted with the Juraian woman these past few days, the former mortician felt an ache deep in her chest, seeing the reserved and demure noblewoman struggling against her body.

“What has been done?” she asked.

Detached, he answered, “All that we can, Elle. Her body is giving out, and we aren’t equipped to counteract the energy imbalance inside her.”

Already this night, Elle had ridden wave after wave of emotions: her animosity and reconciliation with Jay, saving Griffin from the mantis creature, joining Tenchi in his haste to aid Ryoko, defeating the giant insect, only for her three allies to be arrested by her colleagues. Now, she could be watching another new face breathe her last.

Deep in her heart, the good doctor could feel that déjà vu feeling again. She had witnessed another incident just like this one. Although her mind refused to yield the specifics, her body’s reaction and the feeling surging through her were undeniably familiar.

Elle’s eyes hardened as she inquired again, “There has to be something. We can’t just stand by and let her fade away like this.”

Aitch’s gaze slid to hers. “Blind effort will not save her, doctor. Given your background, you know this better than me.”

The raven-haired woman retorted, “My ‘patients’ were always dead when they came to me. I never watched them die.”

A hint of compassion broke through his cold and cynical face as he replied, “I know it’s not easy the first time.”

A wave of sadness crashed against Elle as she listened to the senior agent, recognizing his cynical tone as her own, but now directed at someone she knew firsthand. Mixing with the déjà vu, this impotence swelled within her, demanding action.

Then, a solid tone filled the room, a sickening sound, chilling and merciless.

Elle spun to the respirator and heart monitor, finding both motionless. As the other physicians began resuscitation, the newest agent grabbed an epinephrine autoinjector, a spring-loaded syringe full of adrenaline. While she did not have an extensive knowledge of Juraian biochemistry, she had seen enough from Ayeka’s charts to know it was almost equivalent to that of Terrans. Thus, as her colleagues were distracted, Elle slipped between them and pressed the device to Ayeka’s thigh. The bright coloration of the autoinjector caught Aitch’s eye, but before he could stop her, the neophyte agent triggered the injection, sending the adrenal hormone into Ayeka’s bloodstream.

Aitch grabbed Elle’s arm and pulled the syringe away, scolding her, “She’s a Juraian, you idiot! Their bodies don’t produce epinephrine!”

The former mortician struggled from his grasp and began to bark back at him when both were silenced by the heart monitor’s rapid beeping. Both doctors realized that Ayeka’s heart was beating again, giving them another chance. In earnest, Elle called for a nurse to bring more epinephrine and powerful antihistamines, all to keep Ayeka’s jump-started heart pumping.

Don’t give up on me! she mentally instructed her patient.

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6 Part 6, dA

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6 Part 7, dA

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6 Part 8, dA

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6 Part 9, dA

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6, AO3

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 6, FF.net

Tenchi Muyo! versus Men in Black Chapter 7 Part 1, dA