Tenchi gazed out the window at the climbing sun. "It seems that we talked so long, tomorrow has become today."
"I don't mind," Ryoko said. "Though part of me is curious how it ends."
"All in the fullness of time," He answered her. "The wounds are still fresh." The Jurian hybrid glanced down at his beeping wristwatch.
"What's up?" Ryoko asked curiously.
"I kinda caught a virus while I was away," The pigtailed youth explained, glaring at the watch before reaching into his jacket
and flipping open a small metallic case. "and this, Daylight, keeps it under control." He pulled a syringe of blue fluid out and injected its contents into
his arm.
"What about the red syringe?"
"That.... is
something I prefer not to use," Tenchi said, staring at both blue and
red vials. "It's been useful, but like everything in this world, power
comes with a price."
Ryoko raised an eyebrow, but mercifully let the subject drop. "I thought that the two of us were supposed to go shopping."
"Yes!"
Tenchi said, snapping the case closed. "Shopping, specifically clothes
shopping. But I need money, or more specifically, yen notes!"
"You have something else?" Ryoko asked in surprise.
"I've got quite a bit more."
The dimensional traveler replied, pulling a PDA out of his pocket and drumming a few keys before
frowning. "That's odd." The Jurian youth frowned at the display and then
reentered his commands. "Ah hell. Audio communication, Rikku." He
spoke into his watch.
"Rikku here." The young girl's voice had a sharp, distracted edge, like she was annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of something.
"Hey hun, sorry to bother you but I'm getting error message D337 when I tried to access my D-Pocket."
"Um, it's probably the transdimensional storage pocket outvented in another location due to a Moiban crosshatch." The younger traveler murmured over a series of beeps and keystrokes. "Check the area of most common dimensional distortion in um... one thousand cubic foot radius from your location."
"What did she just say?" Ryoko said in puzzlement.
"Basically, when I tried to get my money out of a multidimensional pocket, it got pulled into another bit of dimensional fold space." Tenchi was already calculating probable locations as he explained. "Washu's lab. That's the nearest bit of warped space time. Thanks Rikku!"
"Mmm hmm." The youth gave a mumbled acknowledgement before the line clicked closed.
"She's rude." Ryoko said, as the pair descended the stairs.
"She's Rikku." He laughed in reply as they opened the door. "To me, she's always been a little scattered. It's when she gets focused that we worry." He took a deep breath and called out. "Little Washu!"
"Greatest scientific genius in the universe." The chipper young voice replied. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for two wads of ryo notes each about this thick." He held his thumb and index fingers about a half inch apart.
"You tried to retrieve them from a dimensional pocket and now you're wondering if they came out in here. Now, I haven't seen any thing, but there may be something in the dimensional buffer. Let's take a look." Washu lead the pair over to a large viewing monitor connected to a terminal. Ryoko opened her mouth but Washu held up a hand to forestall her question, and offered an explanation instead. "As you know, Ryoko, my lab here exists in an altered pocket of the space-time continuum. It's how I can fit my vast workspace into a small closet." Ryoko nodded in understanding. "Now, Tenchi was trying to pull something out of a dimensional pocket, another common instance of altered space-time. Now when you start altering space-time for storage, ultimately it has to re-merge with 'normal' space-time somewhere. Now my lab has a relatively static transit point," Washu nodded back towards the way they had entered. "But because of the scope of my lab is so big, sometimes things enter in odd places and would end up cluttering up the place if it wasn't for the dimensional buffer that catches them." Washu gestured to the machine they now stood in front of. "Typically things that don't have a static transit outpoint like rogue space-time phenomena, or a malfunctioning outpoint like Mihoshi's storage cube, or even Tenchi's own storage pocket end up drawn here, like a gas giant's moon drawn by the pull of gravity. So using this monitor here I can scan the buffer to see what's all in there, and how long it might be before I have to clean the buffer. Luckily, you're just in time to help me test some new protocols."
"What kind of new protocols?" Tenchi asked, warily.
"Probably nothing like what you're thinking." Washu assured him. "Before the only way to clear the buffer was to dump it all into a storage bay and manually sort it from there. But if these new protocols work, I should be able to locate an item in the buffer using this viewer, and then complete the transit out process into the lab. Theoretically."
"Theoretically." Tenchi repeated. "When Rikku first started bending space-time, I got my eyebrows burnt off."
Washu waved a hand dismissively. "I'm an old hand at this... though I will begrudgingly admit my share of beginners mistakes." With that Washu turned to the console and began typing with her left hand as her right slid adeptly over a trackball. "Now, I'm looking for two stacks of yen notes each approximately 12.7 millimeters in thickness. Ah, found them."
"Well, I'll be." Ryoko said amazed. "It worked."
"The scanner worked." Tenchi said skeptically. "I'll not call it a success until
we see the results of the transit out."
"Well, aren't we Mister Cynical?" Washu grumbled, as she started the final
phase of the retrieval.
"After 25 years of disappointment? I've turned it into an art form."
Washu cackled with glee as the desired currency appeared on a nearby table.
"Take that, mister skeptic! Two perfectly pressed piles of-"
"Ten thousand yen notes... Tenchi, this is-"
"Enough to get us both some new clothes. I'm going to have to have Rikku check the transit out protocols though, because it is a bit troublesome to come to Washu every time something gets lost in transit."
"I'm sure I could fix that for you, Tenchi." Washu preened with pride. "I am-"
"Little Washu, Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe, I know. I actually thought about having a plaque made for you. I'll have Rikku do it out of... professional courtesy."
"One scientific genius to another?" Washu mused. Her dimensional counterparts had mentioned that the girl was frighteningly brilliant in the field of theoretical application, though her practical design work did leave something to be desired. And what little she had seen of the girl's creations, carefully scanned while Tenchi was asleep, more than proved she had potential. Perhaps, now that she was relatively settled, the girl could do with a mentor. It was a role that Washu herself hadn't found herself in... well, why bother counting? "All right, Tenchi. I concede your point, but I'll have to talk to her. She'll need to know the dimensional variances of my lab before she can do anything."
"I'll relay the message to her, Washu. Now in the meantime, we shop!"
Ryoko giggled and Washu couldn't help but smile at the look of genuine affection
on her daughter's face as the two friends waltzed out the door. Smiling a bit
longer, she turned her attention back to the dimensional buffer, which wasn't
going to clear itself.
***
Barring threats to her life, Mizuno Ami had ceased being a morning person.
So it was with great displeasure that the now middle aged warrior of love and justice trudged to open her apartment door, only to be promptly bowled over by a blur of blue denim and pink hair. "AMI-CHAN!"
"Umm... What the deuce?" Ami managed the most coherent thing she could given the early morning hour.
"Oh Ami, I'm so glad you're here! You never talk about your time away so getting back here from the future was really hit and miss."
Time travel. Pink hair. Knew enough about her to know where she'd be and when she'd be there... "Chibi Usa? You've gotten older."
The now teenaged time traveler stood up and gave a little spin. "Not so chibi anymore. Everyone calls me Usako. As for my age, Mom forbade me from temporal joyrides until I turn sixteen."
"So how old are you and does your mother know you're here?" Ami grumbled closing the door and staggering into the kitchen in search of that ancient elixir of life: black coffee.
"Doesn't matter. Mom sent me back." Usako stuck her hands in her jeans pockets and leaned back against the counter.
Ami forced one eye open wider. "Is there a threat we should know about? Any danger we should prepare for?"
"Nothing like last time I was here." Usako assured her. "But you and your family, their actions have repercussions still being felt across the time stream. Mom sent me back here... just in case."
"So you could see your friends again incase you got unmade somehow." Ami realized.
Usako nodded. "It's probably nothing. Just mom being paranoid parental. And I
do have one minor errand while I'm here."
"Usako..." Ami growled warningly.
"Hey I have orders to make a certain event happen, and odds are it would happen
anyway. So don't give me that look."
"Orders from who?"
"She who must be obeyed." Usako said simply as Ami loomed over her. "Look, Ames, I got some idea of things I've seen you do in the future, but believe me, my errand mistress? She makes me want to piss myself and we're friends. Just trust me and let me work here."
Ami growled and spun pouring herself a cup of coffee. "So besides the chrono crossed reunion why are you here, on my doorstep I mean?"
"I don't think that grandma could handle two cranky teenage girls, so... I was wondering if I could stay with you until I get myself settled?" The strawberry blonde asked.
"Um Usako, this place is kinda small. You'd end up on the couch or something."
"It'd only be for a few nights. Or maybe you could put me up at the beach house."
Ami contemplated the coffee mug before upending its contents and pouring
another. "I don't HAVE a beach house, Usako."
The temporally displaced teen looked up. "You have it in my time, so you don't
have it yet." Usako said. "It won't kill you to go shopping"
"Your friend is right, Ami. Maybe we should go shopping." Michi spoke casually from the doorway but Ami still jumped a mile. Fortunately she saved her second cup of coffee from embracing oblivion.
"MOTHER!" Ami lay a hand over her heart. "I love you to pieces, momma, but
will you please kindly STOP SCARING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME!"
"Don't raise your voice to me." Michi said sternly.
"Sorry, momma." Ami said automatically.
Girl, you are so fucking momma whipped. Ice laughed merrily. Ami's returning silent commentary was a string of several expletives in various languages, many of which included a description of deviant sexual acts that Ice's mother took part in. Sticks and stones, baby! Sticks and stones!
"So, since I have the day off, what do you say we go shopping?" Michi asked happily. "We can get you a new wardrobe that fits."
"But Ami doesn't-" Usako started before Ami muzzled the young pink haired girl with a free hand.
"Doesn't want to impose on you, but if you're sure, you get changed and think about where you wanna go." Ami gave a sunny smile as her mother looked on skeptically before leaving to get changed.
"Ami, you don't need clothes with your symbiote." Usako said perplexed.
"True," Ami said, as her clothes melted and reformed. "But we haven't quite
reached that level of complete disclosure yet, mother and I." Ami folded down
the collar of her jacket as she reached for her PDA and started keying in
commands. A moment later a thick stack of yen notes appeared along with a pair
of handguns. "So for the time being appearances must be maintained."
"And the guns?" Usako asked as Ami tucked them into the small of her back.
"Last time I went shopping was a crazy little town called Willamette. Since then these are as vital as my credit cards."
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