For Washuu – info and ch. 0: Prelude

First there’s the disclaimers:

Idon’townTenchiMuyooranyofthecharacterstherein,theybelongtowhoeverboughtPioneer,sojustBUGOFF ANDDON’TSUEME,BECAUSEI’MBROKE!

[bows] “Thank you. Thank you.”

WARNING: This is a self-insertion fanfic. Make sure you read this if you hate self-insertion ficts. It will make you more defined in character by honing your disgust for self-insertion fanfiction.

WARNING: This work of fanfiction might not make ANY SENSE whatsoever. Do not judge it by its unanswered questions and unexplained situations. I assure you that I have quite thoroughly thought out the mechanics behind how the story and crossing-over works, it just isn’t explained in chapter 1 because that would most likely be shallow and boring. Remember how Tenchi Muyo doesn’t answer all its questions right away (or ever, sometimes)? This is similar. Soooo… It’s like Tenchi Muyo!

Er, right.

ALSO, this fanficis written from the perspective of someone who has extensive knowledge of the Tenchi Muyo series, so some things such as character descriptions, I never bothered to add. And, because of some intentionally blurry descriptions and references, certain characters won’t be recognizable to those not familiar with cannon Tenchi Muyo lore. That includes OVA 1-2, GXP, and the novels. (Though I haven’t used the novels… yet. )

Anyways, on to the real part.

0: Prelude

It all starts with a boy, late in his seventeenth year of life, strapped to an operation table in a vast laboratory that would put any mad scientist’s lab to shame. Anyone entering it for the first time could find themself distracted for hours by the many wonders within its countless walls. There were five whole planets to explore, every one of them filled with the most advanced technology known to any and all races in the universe. Great glass columns greeted one’s eyes from the back of the main lab as soon as they could be seen, this one with the form of its creator, that one with a green, gelatinous mass, and heaven knows what in the rest.

To the left and right, scattered like trivial and infantile toys, lay great machines of war and devices of the most ingenious crafting, and yet no attention was being paid to such inventions now.

Now the only thing the mastermind of this technological fortress looked to was a plain metal table placed so conspicously in the middle of the floor that an on-looker would most likely pass by it without even realizing it was there. On that table lay something yet more advanced and prized than the total of everything else to be seen, a certain something that no amount of time or money or knowledge or expertise could create: A human life.

A dull hum of machinery hung in the dead silence as the greatest scientific genius in the universe gazed down upon the mutilated form of the boy laying below her. She tucked a wayward strand of long, red hair back into place and rested her head onto her hand. She glanced up at a terminal as various colors and shapes flickered across it, and began to question to herself, almost aloud.

“What is it about this boy… numbers don’t usually lie, and besides… nobody can make that happen,” she pondered to herself as the data continued to be reported by the computers. “Unless…”

She paused for a minute and looked back down at the body on the table.

“How DID you get here, boy?” She questioned, almost to herself.

She turned back to the computer consol as if she had figured out how to answer her question, and began typing rapidly.

SET :: SUB-CONSCIENCE ANALYSIS PROGRAM :: BEGIN

–

QUERY :ORIGIN [VIA CHRON RECALL]

PROGRAM VISUAL :NAJA

OBSCURE PROG VIS :TRUE

NON-C AWARE :TRUE

SUB-C AWARE :TRUE

C AWARE :FALSE [LOCK]

DISPLAY :SCENARIO

–

EXECUTE

The screen flickered, and the form of a young girl with flowing silvery-blue hair appeared on it. The girl turned to face its creator and spoke in a voice that seemed to waft out of the computer’s speakers with an almost childish softness.

“Shall I bring in the mist now, master?”

The scientist shook her head. “Not yet.” She tapped out a command on her keypad, and, when she had finished, a visual copy of the boy on the table formed on the screen. The girl turned toward it.

“Is this the subject, then?”

“Yes, he is, but, um…”

The girl looked up at the scientist genius.

“Master, what is it?”

“He shouldn’t understand this on his own, but still, don’t let on to what’s happening, alright?” the genius said. “I’m not sure how his astral form would react.” continued the scientist, mainly to herself. “Or if his conscious form would survive”

The girl on the screen nodded knowingly, and, with a toss of her head, a mist came and obscured her features like a silvern shroud.

Within the boy’s mind…

Mist. And wonder. Peace. Quiet. But not too quiet. Like being next to a shallow waterfall as it lands on a shallow rock with a shallow, pattering noise. And all the rest of the world is so deep. And distant. Far out in the mist.

In such a place a person doesn’t bother to think much. He would much rather just be, and be without worrying about petty logic and complex thought.

“Hello, there.”

“What? Oh, hello.”

“What’s your name?”

“Me? My… my name’s Elliot.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Oh, I guess I’m doing well enough. The scenery here kind of puts me out of it, but I’m fine. And you?”

The misty figure tilted her head, though that might not have been noticed.

“I…” It stopped and thought for a second before replying just as it had heard.

“I’m fine.”

A minute passed as the boy sat in silence.

‘Not in silence. Silence is madness…’ the boy thought to himself. ‘In stillness. In peace and solitude. Not silence.’

The silver haze came closer to him and, if he had paid attention, he would have guessed that it sat down next to him. But he wasn’t paying attention to that. He wasn’t paying much attention to anything.

“So… what have you been doing lately?” The mist wondered aloud.

“I’m not really sure. It’s not something I’m too worried about.”

“Could you tell me, please? I don’t get to talk to people often here.”

For once the boy actually looked at the being next to him. He could tell that it was a girl from its voice, and after a minute of staring into the mist he could make out that it was a young girl. Maybe seven years old.

He thought for a minute that something looked familiar to him, but the mist shifted and the thought was lost.

“Uh, well, I guess I could.”

Somehow he could tell that the girl had a big smile on under that mist, and he smiled back.

“Let me think for a minute, first.” he said as he laid back in the… grass? It wasn’t grass. It wasn’t rock, like the waterfall sound would imply, either. It just… was.

The misty figure descended by him. It wasn’t obviously reclining but seemed to hover next to him as it wait for the boy to start.

“Actually, there’s a LOT that could use explaining…” he trailed off.

The mist shifted as if waiting for him to begin. The boy hesitated for a minute, and then asked, “You seem understanding. Do you mind if I ramble for a minute?”

The girl shook her head in approval, but quickly realized that the boy couldn’t see her clearly.

“Go ahead. I’ll listen.”

Back in the lab, every word being said scrolled across the screen, but the scientist wanted to hear the boy for herself. She leaned in toward the screen and speakers.

The boy closed his eyes and began.

===========

(Chapter 1 picks up right at the end here, so go directly there to continue the story. Oh, and ‘silvern’ [spelled that way] IS a word.)

C&C welcome, but no flames, please.