Tenchi Universe- Galaxy Police (NSFW parts)

[Zigra]

Episode 1

  "Shit!"
Amane Kaunaq was in deep trouble. Her ship was under enemy fire, and there seemed to be no escape. The enemy ship had superior firepower and on top of that it was gaining on her. She had no choice but to make a run for it in a sector of the galaxy that was considered remote. The Sol System they called it.
And now, after her ship had taken a heavy beating, she was going to have to make a crash landing somewhere. She was nearest to the system's third planet, a relatively small blue and green world. She just hoped that whatever this world was supported human life.....

                                                          * * *

"Wonderful!"
Seina Yamada felt great. Not only was it a nice day, but there was an unusual sense of optimism within him. Throughout his life he had been plagued by the worst sort of luck, but now there was a strange feeling in the back of his mind that told him that today was going to be different. Today his luck would finally turn around.
He would start the day by paying his longtime friend, Kiriko Masaki, a visit. Today was her 17th birthday, and Seina's family had a special gift for her that they wanted him to deliver. Kiriko was one of the few people who not only tolerated Seina, but seemed immune to his....affliction. It was important to him that he and his family showed her that they appreciated her for her friendship and patience.
Seina hopped on to his bike and rode off. He didn't notice the looks of horror from people down the street, nor hear the cries of "Oh fuck! Here he comes!" or "We're up Shit Creek now!". The people who saw him coming tried to get the hell out of his way, but for some it was too late.
Seina rode by a pair of women idly chatting with each other. He did not witness one of them falling over lifeless from a sudden blood clot in the brain and then the other girl bursting into flames from spontaneous combustion.
As Seina rode by a grassy field, a mouse darted away into the grass. It was then caught by a Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula, a species not typically found in Japan.
He passed over a bridge, paying no mind to the kids playing in the stream below. The kids never knew what hit them when the school of piranha swarmed them.
He passed by a field of farmland, with a lone farmer tending to his crops. The farmer never saw the horde of locusts coming.
A shopkeeper was casually watching a news report on TV about a celebration being held on the Tokyo beach when Seina passed by his store. The celebration turned to horror when the news cameras caught a giant monster rising out of the ocean.
Seina decided to take a quick shortcut down a trail through the forest. He waved at his classmate Kouichiro, who was hiking down the trail. After Seina passed him by, Kou froze in place and waited, sheer terror running through his mind. After a few minutes, when nothing happened, Kou breathed a sigh of relief and walked on.
When he was further up the trail, something caught Seina's attention. A strange light in the sky. He continued to stare at it until he realized that whatever it was was getting closer. He made an "eep!" in surprise when he finally realized that the object was going to hit ground somewhere, until it finally crashed a ways back behind him.
Seina rushed back to the sight of the crash. He expected to see some sort of meteorite, but what lie before him at the crash sight made his jaw drop. It appeared to be some sort of red spacecraft, about the size of a small airplane. He got off his bike and ran towards it to investigate further. He would never know about Kouichiro's body crushed under the ship.
Seina sifted through the wreckage until he found something that surprised him even further. A woman. He had been expecting some sort of bizarre alien lifeform, but the pilot of this ship was apparently....human. Short butch-cut blond hair and a curvy body displayed by her skin-tight outfit, Seina found the woman very attractive.
Something made Seina ponder this situation. It all reminded him of a story his friend Tenchi told him about how he first met his housemate Ryoko. Seina thought they were just pulling his leg back then, but now he wondered if there was some truth to the tale.
Brushing those thoughts aside, he tried to wake the woman up. It didn't take long before she opened her eyes.
Still a bit woozy in the head, Amane awoke, not sure of where she was. When she finally was able to snap herself back to reality, she realized that she was being held in somebody's arms. She gazed up to see a young-looking man looking down on her. In her eyes, he was just the cutest thing she had ever seen, and she fell madly in love right then and there. And then she realized her situation.
"Oh brave knight!" she cried out, suddenly embracing the confused teen, "You have to help me! I'm being chased by space pirates!"
As if on cue, a large shadow loomed above them. Seina looked up to see an even larger ship hovering in the sky. Several small lights broke off from the ship and were making their way to the ground below. Seina deduced that these were some sort of pods carrying whatever crew piloted that ship, and they were obviously after this woman as she had told him.
"Come on, let's go!" he told the woman as they got to their feet and made a run for it.
They ran through the woods, the sound of their pursuers behind them becoming greater and greater. It was clear that Seina and the woman wouldn't be able to outrun them much longer. Then, a sudden realization raced through Seina's mind. He remembered more about what Tenchi told him about his first meeting with Ryoko.
"Hold on!" Seina said, coming to a halt.
  "What's the problem?" Amane asked him in desperation, "We can't stay here for long!"
Seina grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her along back to where they came from.
"I'm not falling for your tricks!" he proclaimed, "I know that you're really some sort of space pirate being pursued by police, and I won't let you get away!"
Amane was struck dumbfounded. What the hell was this guy talking about? And worst of all, despite looking rather skinny and weak, the guy turned out to be strong enough to pull even her along without her being able to do much about it.
Finally, the pursuers arrived. Seina was a bit confused. These were the strangest police he ever saw. Grungy outfits, disheveled hair, and some scarred faces. But, he gave it no further thought, as he had a civic duty to perform.
"Here you go, officers." he said, "She's all yours."
The men merely grinned at Seina and the woman,  raised their firearms, and pointed them in Seina's direction.
"No witnesses!" the apparent leader of the group announced, leaving Seina confused.
Amane had enough. She didn't want a confrontation, as she knew she was greatly outnumbered, but the jackass next to her left her with no choice. Finally breaking free from Seina's grip, Amane lept out of the line of fire and pulled out a firearm of her own. The attackers then opened fire, but were unable to hit her as she dogged their fire (and strangely, they couldn't seem to get a good shot at Seina despite him just standing still).
Amane and the attackers kept firing at each other, but the shots would never hit their mark. Amane wondered what the hell was going on, as she was never this poor of a shot, and she was pretty sure those pirates never had this much trouble, either. Seina just stood there throughout the whole exchange, looking confused.
Finally, the energy from Amane's firearm hit one of the pirates. But he didn't go down. Everybody there then looked at the man in shock as the energy from Amane's gun began to course through his body and bath him in a greenish glow. He screamed as his body began to change. His muscles became larger and more pronounced, hair began to grow all over him, he grew five feet taller, and his canine teeth turned into a pair of fangs.
Amane was taken aback. Somehow, the energy from her gun had transformed the man into a giant ogre-creature. It was so completely unlike anything that had happened before that she couldn't begin to know what to think or do about it.
The ogre then let out a deep growl as it turned on it's former comrades. Unable to run away in time, they tried to fight back. They were no match. The ogre tore through them one by one, while Seina and Amane could only watch on in horror at the bloodbath that ensued before them. Then the creature set its sights on them.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Amane shouted.
As much of a dumbass as this guy next to her was, and despite the trouble he had just gotten her into, she still couldn't let him be killed. As far as she knew, he was just some innocent civilian. Plus, she still found him cute.
The two of them made a run for it. Somehow, they managed to keep ahead of the monster. Amane thought that whatever weird stroke of luck was befalling everybody and everything around her was now changing. And then she saw it. A town, just up ahead. A sudden surge of horror filled up within her.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me there was a town in this direction!?" Amane yelled at the boy next to her, "Now we've led that creature straight for it!"
Indeed, once the ogre saw the town before it, it was no longer concerned with the two people it had been chasing. Now it saw a much greater buffet. The monster didn't give Seina and Amane any time to think further before it smacked them both aside from behind and charged toward the town.
By the time Amane gained her senses back, she could already hear the screams. The ogre was now attacking civilians, and she knew it was largely because of her that those people were now being slaughtered.
"C'mon, lady, we've gotta go stop that thing!"
Amane looked up to see that the boy had already gotten up and was now trying to help her up as well. The boy was right. She didn't know what she could do at this point, but it was their fault that creature was on the loose, and Amane had to try her best to put an end to the rampage.
Once Seina and Amane made their way to the town, they could immediately see the trail of carnage. Cars were overturned, bodies littered the streets. Seina would have been unable to do anything but stare in horror at it all, but Amane convinced him to press onward.
It didn't take them long to follow the trail of destruction to the monster itself. The beast currently was chowing down on a human leg, one, Amane realized in revulsion, that looked far too small to have belonged to an adult.
Once the townsfolk witnessed Seina and Amane arriving on the scene, Seina's presence told them all they needed to know about the current crisis.
"Ah, I see," people were saying, "that explains everything."
Amane thought quickly about what she should do. She knew that she obviously couldn't use her gun again. Her last option was to use her laso, a energy rope specifically made to capture dangerous criminals.
Amane took out the laso and lashed it at the creature. It struck its target and began to wrap around the monster. Then it happened. The energy from the laso began to course through the ogre's body, as if the monster was absorbing it all.
Before everybody's eyes, the monster began to grow even larger. As it grew, it began to look far less humanoid. It's skin turned to dark brown scales. A tail began to form out its backside. It's eyes bulged out. Bizarre flaps began to form in the place of ears. A golden horn began to form from its snout. But, most striking of all, was that the thing's body now looked...different. It was as if it was made of a substance not of this universe. Amane and Seina didn't know how to describe it, as they had never seen a "live-action" entity before.
  The monster, which now resembled something more akin to a reptilian dog creature, now stood over 30 meters tall. It lowered itself to its forelegs, becoming quadrupedal. The monster then began to dig its way into the ground, and it wasn't long before it disappeared underground, leaving a gaping hole in the road where it once stood. Amane decided to go in and chase after it.
"Wait for me!" Seina called out as he followed her.

                                                              * * *

The two quickly caught up to the burrowing beast. Amane wasn't sure what to do now, as all of her available weaponry only seemed to make matters worse. But she knew that she couldn't let that creature get away, chancing the possibility of it surfacing at another town or city on this world.
Apparently, Seina had the same thought as her, though what he did next probably wouldn't be considered the smartest idea. His idea was to start throwing pebbles and rocks at the creature to get it to turn around.
"Over here, you ugly mutant fido!" he yelled at the monster.
The monster then turned around and glared at the two, it's golden horn glowing and lighting up the tunnel. The creature began to drool and give them a hungry look. Obviously they were next on its menu.
Then, the thought of the loose Earth Seina had thrown at the creature gave Amane an idea. If she couldn't hit the monster directly with her weapons, there was still another way she could use them. She aimed for the tunnel ceiling with her gun. Her plan was to cause the tunnel to cave in on the monster, hopefully ending its rampage. She knew she was putting herself and the boy in danger, as the tunnel could collapse on them too, but she had to take the risk at this point
However, she still underestimated the ways the boy next to her affected luck and fortune. As she fired at the ceiling of the tunnel, yet another unusual thing happened. The energy from the gun began to take shape. It formed into a swirling vortex that began to suck the air in like a vacuum.   
The monster, Amane, and Seina found themselves being pulled towards the vortex. The monster, being closest to it, was sucked in almost immediately. It wasn't long before Seina and Amane found themselves being pulled up into the air, and they thought for sure this was it for them.
Then something grabbed them both from behind. They looked back and Amane saw somebody in what she recognized as a GXP combat suit. The suit was being held to the ground by gravity boots. Even though the figure was wearing a helmet, Amane immediately knew who this individual was from the suit's markings.
As the figure held them down, the vortex finally closed. With the monster gone, it seemed like fortune was taking a turn for the better. Although, in the universe that the monster was sent to, victims of the monster Baragon probably wouldn't agree with that.
  The three of them came to the surface. Without acknowledging the two people he or she just saved, the helmeted individual then made off towards the wreckage of Amane's ship. Amane, realizing she had forgotten all about her ship and its cargo, ran after the figure. Seina followed.  When they all arrived at the wreckage, Amane and Seina then took notice of the fact that the pirate ship had apparently already departed from the scene. Amane, cursed under her breath. She had just realized how badly she screwed up, even before the newcomer was able to look through the wreckage to confirm it.
  After looking through the wreckage for a good long while, the newcomer finally gave up looking for whatever he or she was looking for. He or she then walked up to Amane. He/she gave Seina a look for a moment before directing their gaze at Amane.
"Well, as usual, you really screwed this one up!" the newcomer told Amane in a voice that sounded all too familiar to Seina.
Before he could ask the obvious question, the newcomer removed their helmet. The woman revealed was very attractive, with fair skin, brown eyes, and long, flowing brown hair. As Seina suspected from first hearing her voice, he knew this woman very well.
"Kiriko?"
Kiriko nodded, a look of sad regret on her face, as another ship, one similar to Amane's appeared above them.

                                                             * * *

Seina and Amane sat silent on the bridge of Kirko's ship while Kiriko paced back and forth. Seina was speechless due to the whole turn of events, while Amane remained quiet in anticipation of the major ass-chewing she knew she was about to receive.
"You know," Kiriko finally said, " the way you bungled this mission, I could almost swear your last name was either 'Kuramitsu' or 'Makibi'. We finally had that package in our hands, and you not only let those pirates catch up to you, but you also let them get a hold it!"
"And just what the hell did you want me to do, let them kill me?!" Amane finally had the nerve to shout.
Kiriko, in her frustration, almost blurted out "Yes!" before she stopped and collected herself and continued speaking.
"Anything would have been preferable to letting them get the package. Even destroying it. But now, those pirates have got their hands on a potentially dangerous item, and soon we could have another of......her.....loose on the galaxy."
'Not to mention you put Seina, here, in danger.' Kiriko thought to herself.
Amane's mood darkened even more as she took in Kiriko's words.
"So, what do we do now?" Amane asked sheepishly.
"I'm to bring you back to GP headquarters." Kiriko responded, "Both of you."
"Umm, where are you taking me?" Seina asked, finally breaking his long silence in this affair.
Kiriko was a bit reluctant at this point. She really didn't want Seina involved in this matter, but it looked like she had no choice.
"I'm taking you to....I'm taking you to the Galaxy Police." she said.
Seina knew that, somehow, his luck would turn around on this day. But he didn't know then just what direction Fortune would take him, and how his life would never be the same again.

                                                              * * *

Down below in Seina's town, the people left in the devastation wondered if things would ever get better for them, or if anybody even cared.

                                                         END

[Zigra]

Episode 2

"Incredible!"
That word pretty much summed up how Seina felt about his trip. Even though he hadn't seen much yet, it still amazed him that he was in outer space, many light years from Earth. And now he looked over what was apparently the headquarters for something called the Galaxy Police. The facility hung in orbit around a strange purple planet. From top to bottom, the station was at least three miles in height, which would likely make it visible to the naked eye to anybody down on the planet.
'I guess all those stories Tenchi told me were true, and those freakish laser battles between Ryoko and Aeka weren't just some weird effect of my bad luck.' Seina thought to himself.
But still, as amazing as this trip was to him, there was also a measure of awkwardness to it as well. Kiriko barely said a word to him throughout the whole journey beyond telling Seina when they had reached their destination. He guessed that she was trying to avoid discussing the obvious question on Seina's mind.
"So, what's the story between you two?" came a female voice from behind him.
Amane walked up next to Seina and joined him in watching the ship's docking process.
"I guess I could ask you the same thing." he replied, "For me, Kiriko, along with her distant cousin Tenchi, has been one of my oldest friends. I thought I knew her better than anybody else in my life, but now I'm not sure about anything. I never knew she had any connection to outer space or was part of any space police force or anything like that. I'm so confused."
"I know how you feel." Amane said, "Kiriko and I go way back, though not exactly in the best way. She and I have been on the force since forever, and we've built up quite a rivalry. We're always trying to upstage each other on solving cases, and Kiriko often complains that she always has to 'pick up my messes', so to speak. But through all this I never knew anything about her personal life, let alone that she came from such a remote planet as this 'Earth' you come from."
Before they could say anything further, Kiriko came in the room.
"We've successfully docked." she explained, "Now the Director would like to see both of you."

                                                            * * *

Seina barely had time to take in the scenery as Kiriko led him to his destination. The inside of this station was just like anything he could imagine from a science fiction movie or TV series. The biggest surprise for him, though, was the that station seemed to be manned mostly by what appeared to be humans. Sure, he saw some aliens here and there (the most prominent being a race that looked like a cross between dogs and mountain lions), but humans made up the highest percentage of this station's personnel.
The trio finally arrived at the Director's office and walked in. The Director turned out to be one of those dog/lion people, whom Kiriko introduced to Seina as Director L'sar. He motioned for them to have a seat.
"So, Amane, explain to me what happened, from the beginning." L'sar said.
"But, Director, you have my report and...." Kiriko tried to explain before the Director interrupted her.
"Yes yes, I know. But I would like to hear things from Amane's point of view."
Amane gulped nervously and then began to tell her side of the story. She spoke of a long investigation into some type of package, presumably a weapon, that was making it's rounds in the galactic black markets. Whatever it was, it had fallen into the hands of a group of pirates who plotted to sell it to some unknown bidder. Doing undercover work with this pirate gang, she finally managed to get her hands on the item and tried to bring it back to HQ for further examination.
But, things didn't go as she planned. The pirates discovered what she had done, and made chase as she tried to escape. She then told the story of how she crash landed on Earth, met Seina, and the ensuing conflict before Kiriko rescued them. L'sar's eyes narrowed as he listened to this part of the story.
"Tell me more about the details of your fight with the pirates." he told her.
Amane was confused for a moment, but then did as he asked. She told him further details about the shootout. In particular, she elaborated on the oddities of it, how the gunfire from both sides continuously missed their targets, and how the energy from her gun did the impossible and mutated one of the pirates into a monster. When she finished her story, L'sar pondered what she had told him.
"I see. Amane, I would like you and our guest to step out of the room for a little bit while I have a word with Kiriko."
Amane did as she was told and led Seina out of the room. Alone with Kiriko, L'sar took on an even more serious tone.
"This so-called 'aura' of bad luck is more powerful than either one of us might have realized." he told her.
"So? What interest is it to you?" Kiriko asked him wearily.
"A person whose mere presence can affect chance can either be a deadly weapon....or an incredible ally. If we could learn the secrets behind Seina's ability, perhaps even find a way to control it, Seina could be an invaluable asset to the Galaxy Police."
"You don't mean...?!"
"Yes, I would like Seina to join us for the time being, even if only as a deputy."
"You...you can't do that!" Kiriko shouted, "Seina has no experience in any sort of law enforcement! And most of all, we don't have a way to control his power yet!"
"Ah, but we do." L'sar countered, paying no mind to Kiriko's outburst, "You have said in your report that the people in your family seem to have some sort of immunity to Seina's bad luck aura. I'm guessing that it has something to do with the latent Jurai Power in your family's bloodline. That Power possibly works to counteract whatever manner of power Seina exudes. It's probably the only reason you, him and Amane managed to reach HQ without anything bad happening to you along the way."
While a stunned Kiriko pondered his words, the Director called Amane and Seina back into the room. When they sat back down, he addressed Seina.
"Mr. Yamada, I've got a proposal for you. How would you like to become a deputy in the Galaxy Police?"
Seina's jaw dropped. Kiriko was expecting, no hoping, that he would refuse. But, what came out of his mouth next jolted her like a bolt of lightning.
"Yes! Of course! I'd love to!"
"Very well, then." the Director said with a smile, "With that, I would like to give the three of you an assignment. Your instructions are to hunt down the pirates that Amane was investigating, and take back the item that they stole."
Kiriko bit her lip. She knew that from this point on she had no say in what Seina would or wouldn't do.
"Very well, sir." she told the Director, "You can count on us."
Amane, who had been silent throughout this declaration, had a sudden gleam in her eyes. Emotions that she had be suppressing since they had left Earth swelled up within her, and she now couldn't resist her urges. Without warning, she turned around and glomped Seina.
"Did you hear that, Seina my love? You and I are going to be together from this moment on! Nothing can break us apart!"
Kiriko, shocked by the displayed, roared her displeasure.
"You get off of him right now, you blond hussy!" she yelled at Amane.
"Why, getting off is exactly what I plan to do." Amane declared.
Seina just looked confused by the whole matter. Amidst the ensuing argument, Director L'sar smiled. This behavior from those two was nothing new to him. At least now, he had a way to finally bring them together as partners, and he knew things would work out great.

                                                                 * * *

Back onboard her ship, Kiriko was tremendously uneased. What was the Director thinking? There was no way Seina was cut out for this. She often questioned this new Director's judgement, after the old Director was killed during Kain's escape, but now she felt he was going too far.
She looked at the seat next to her, where Seina, who, much to her distress, still had Amane hanging all over him, was sitting. Throughout her life she always wanted to protect him, as she knew he had a hard life due to his bad luck aura. But now, he was put into a situation where she didn't think she could do that anymore.
She looked back out the window at the endless void of space before them. So many dangers out there, and Seina would soon be in the middle of them all. But first, everybody back home would need to be informed that Seina was leaving for a good while....

                                                       * * *

"Oh, I'm so happy for my little man!" Seina's mother exclaimed, "Even though I always thought you'd marry Kiriko, I'm still glad you found somebody!"
"Seina and Amane are not getting married!" Kiriko cried out.
"Sure we are!" Amane replied, her arms around a confused Seina, "You just don't want to admit it because you waited too long to make your move and now I beat you to the punch!"
"That has nothing to do with why we are here!" Kiriko continued on, barely able to keep her cool, "We are here because Seina has accepted at new job offer along with us, and he is going to be away for awhile!"
"Kiriko, you really don't have to lie to us." Seina's father said, We can all see just how much of a happy couple Seina and this Amane girl really are."
Seina's father pointed to his son, who was very clearly enjoying the feeling of Amane's breasts pressed to his side. The dreamy look on Seina's face, coupled with the fact that he wasn't speaking up on the matter, only enraged Kiriko further.
"Fine! If this is what you guys want to believe, I'm not arguing any further! Seina, get your belongings and let's get the hell out of here!" Kiriko yelled as she dragged Seina, complete with Amane still latched to him, upstairs to his room.

                                                             * * *

"Wow! I've never seen everybody so happy before!" Seina said with excitement.
Word of Seina's impending departure traveled fast through his home town. The whole town was partying in the streets like there was no tomorrow. All over the place, people danced and sang, while many couples young and old had sexual intercourse in the broad daylight. It was a joyous event indeed.
Paying no mind to the events, Kiriko led Seina and Amane outside the town limits where her ship was waiting. Once aboard, she issued Seina his new uniform and briefed everybody on the mission at hand.
"Alright, since their cover had been blown, our intelligence tells us that the pirates have found a new location to to make their deal. The new location is an ice planet in the Menos Sector. Our intelligence also tells us that the ones they are trying to sell the package to is none other than Millenium Crime Syndicate."
While those words had no meaning for Seina, Amane shuddered. The Millenium Syndicate was a near-mythical crime organization that was believed to be behind some of the galaxy's greatest crimes and atrocities. They were believed to be behind the rise of the infamous space pirate Ryoko, and rumors suggested they help Kagato gain the throne of Jurai. The leader of this syndicate was said to be a mysterious woman called the Devil Princess, though her existence could not actually be verified. In fact, most of what was "known" about the syndicate was more myth and rumor than anything that could actually be confirmed.
"Our mission," Kiriko went on, "is to both recover the package, and discover the Syndicate's reasons for wanting to get a hold of it. If we succeed, we could finally blow the lid off of all the Syndicate's plans and designs."
With that, they were ready to be on their way. As the ship took off and left Earth's orbit, Seina pondered the potential new life ahead of him. It was clearly a big universe, and he would soon play a big part in it.




                                                          END

[Zigra]

 Episode 3

Tarant Shank looked over his ship's cargo. Such an unusual thing this item was. It's surface was made of a white substance that looked like ivory, yet felt like glass. It's whole shape and appearance gave him the impression of a large plant seed or pod. He was tempted to break it open to see what was inside, yet he was afraid to incur the wrath of his customer.
The Devil Princess. The thought of her sent shivers up the spine of even a ruthless pirate like himself. While few could confirm that the woman truly existed, her malice towards those who had crossed her was legendary. And considering how horrific the fate of such individuals was, Tarant did not care to be one of their number.
Yet he could not shake his curiosity regarding this item. The Princess's Millenium Syndicate paid his crew a large sum of Jurai money (something he didn't want to know how they got their hands on) to steal this item from the archaeologists who discovered it in some ruin on a distant world (and also to make sure that said archaeologists didn't survive to tell of their discovery). And not only that, but a Galaxy Police spy amongst his crew's ranks tried to steal it, meaning the GP also had some interest in this item.
He was pulled away from his thoughts by the announcement over the intercom that the ship had reached its rendezvous point.

                                                                      * * *

Tarant's teeth chattered. The place was damn cold. But it was about as out of the way of a location as anybody could ask for. This world in the Menos Sector was once, centuries ago, a lush and green paradise world with a large human population. That was until an invention created by an infamous red-haired scientist went haywire and knocked the planet out of it's previous orbit and further away from it's sun. Most of the inhabitants were killed by the sudden freeze that overtook the world, while the survivors abandoned the planet. The fact that this mad scientist had returned to the modern universe gave Tarant mixed feelings of horror and grim amusement.
  The arranged meeting place was in a building in one of the former population's abandoned cities. The temperature inside the building didn't seem much less cold than it was outside. He was glad at first when the Millenium Syndicate's representatives showed themselves on time. He would not be glad for long.
Looking upon these representatives, Tarant and his men knew something was horribly wrong. Every single one of them, about a dozen in number, looked exactly the same, like clones of one another. Furthermore, he and his crew were put off by their appearance. Each one of them, all female, had ghostly white skin and blood red eyes. Their short hair was blue-grey. It was like they were partially human, yet not entirely.
"Wh...who are you?!" Tarant asked in an unnerved tone of voice.
"We are Rei. We come here on behalf of the Devil Princess" the foremost of the pale women said, expressing no emotion at all in her voice, "Where is the item?"
Tarant nervously gestured for the two crewmen carrying the crate with the item to come forward.
"There it is." he told the pale women, "Now, give us our payment so we can get the fuck out of here!"
The foremost of the Reis walked over and opened the crate. Seeing that what they wanted was indeed there, she nodded. Tarant then received a signal from his ship in orbit. They were under attack. Apparently, this whole thing was a setup.
Tarant and his crewmen raised their firearms and were about to open fire on the Reis when all of the Reis glared at them and gave out a horrifying shriek that sounded like some hellspawned harpies. The Reis were then on Tarant's men before those men got a chance to open fire. In their final moments of life, those men could not believe what they were seeing. The Reis opened their mouths inhumanly wide and and these wet tongue like projections came out of them and latched on to their nearest victim. Such victims had their body fluids suck out through these projections until there was nothing but a dry husk left.
Tarant alone was able to get away from the massacre. He tried to get a signal out to his ship, but he only got fuzz. Apparently, his ship had lost the fight with its attackers. It seemed he was alone now.

                                                                         * * *

  "Well, I guess all our plans are now out the window." Amane said.
The long-range sensors on Kiriko's ship detected some sort of battle in the orbit around the world the pirates were suppose to be trading the package on. It was everybody's guess that the deal had gone bad.
"What do we do now?" Seina asked.
"Whatever we do, we can't let the Syndicate get a hold of that package." Kiriko answered.
"And just what do you expect us to do?" Amane asked, "In case you hadn't noticed, we're completely outnumbered!"
Kiriko thought about it for a few moments while Seina and Amane impatiently waited for her answer. Then, looking at Seina, it came to her.
"No. we're not really outnumbered. We have luck on our side!"

                                                                 * * *

  "This sucks!"
The heavy winter jacket Kiriko provided Seina did little to keep him warm on this world. Detecting the coveted package down on the ice planet, Kiriko decided to send Seina down there. Alone.
"I'm sorry, Seina, but I can't go with you." Kiriko explained before she sent him down, "My presence will negate your aura too much. And I can't let Amane get caught up in whatever catastrophe that might happen down there. You'll have to go alone and learn to trust your....power."
So now Seina was on his own to face whatever danger might be on this ice planet. Using a communications device, Kiriko guided Seina to the supposed location of the item they were looking for (and throughout his mission he could hear Amane in the background yelling at Kiriko about how foolhardy this whole plan was).
When he finally got close the destination, he could hear the sounds of conflict.
"This is it, the moment of truth." he said to himself with a sigh.
Seina then took a deep breath and barged into the building. He froze at the sight he beheld. Was he in a Zombie movie?  Identical pale-blue haired women, resembling banshees of mythology, were hacking into Tarant's men with abandon and glee.  One of the pirates ran at him in panic and Seina fidgeted, bracing himself for an encounter but he shouldn't have bothered.  A throaty yell left the man's mouth and he stumbled.  As he recovered his balance with a warrior's grace, he looked down to examine the obstacle only to find that it was his own entrails that entangled his feet.  He gasped and fell dead, revealing one of the monsters behind him in full bloodlust.  This "zombie woman", as Seina mentally identified her kind, withdrew her extended claws and opened her mouth for her oversized tongue to project out and elongate, attaching itself to this latest victim, and she sucked him dry until all that was left was a dried husk.
"Oops, sorry Seina!" Kiriko said with a sweatdrop.
As the Reis each made hellish screeching sounds at Seina and began to charge at him, Seina stepped backwards. As he did, he stepped on something that made a loud bleep noise. He looked down to see that he had stepped on some sort of control device with buttons on it.
A tremendous humming sound overtook the room and drew the Reis' attention away from Seina. At the heart of the room, a large pile of snow and ice cracked and began to fall away. Under all that ice a large machine was revealed that crackled with energy.
Before anybody could react, a gigantic earthquake set in. One by one, disaster fell upon the Reis. Some were crushed when parts of the roof collapsed on them. Others were swallowed up by fissures that opened up beneath them.
Seina knew that now was his chance. Seina ran over to the crate, and attached the marking device that Kiriko gave him to it. He then placed another one of these devices on himself. In an instant, he and the crate were teleported away from the planet and back on Kiriko's ship.


                                                               * * *

Seina rushed to the control room of the ship, excited that he had successfully achieved the goal Kirkio sent him down for. But when he got there, he was greeted by dead silence.
"What's wrong, gu....?" he tried to get out before Amane and Kiriko hushed him.
Then he looked out the room's window. The sight outside left him speechless as well. The ice planet he was just on was moving!
"Wha....what the heck is going on?!" Seina finally blurted out.
  "Umm, well, according to our scanners, the planet's trajectory will take it......right back to its original orbit!" Amane said.
Amane didn't have the heart to tell Seina that when the planet started moving, the Syndicate ship caught in its path collided with the planet's surface and was destroyed.
"Okay, well, as amazing as that all is, we've got a mission to attend to." Kiriko said, snapping everybody back to attention, "Let's have a look at this item the Syndicate wanted so badly."

                                                              * * *

Kiriko examined the strange pod-like object while Seina and Amane looked on.
"Just what exactly is that thing suppose to be?" Seina asked.
"Rumor had it that it is some sort of bioweapon created by a civilization that dominated the Milky Way galaxy millions of years ago. There are also rumors that it has some sort of connection to the infamous space pirate Ryoko." Amane explained.
"Indeed, that would appear to be the case." Kiriko added, "The writing on the pod is ancient, but I've been able to translate it. It translates roughly as Ryoko B, though I couldn't guess at the meaning of that."
The name 'Ryoko' was all too familiar to Seina. It was the name of his friend Tenchi's fiance', whom Tenchi had told him was originally a space pirate.
Letting his curiosity get the best of him Seina then rushed over to the pod and placed his hand on it before Kiriko could warn him not to. Before Kiriko protested, the pod shuddered. Everybody stepped back from it as the shuddering grew more intense. And then the pod opened.
The three of them cautiously crept forward to look at what was inside. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw. There were two things inside the pod. One was a strange purple egg-like object. The other was more surprising. It was a sleeping little girl, about age 2. The girl had curious pale skin and frizzy jet black hair.
The girl then awoke to reveal a pair of orange eyes. She looked at the trio curiously until she focused her eyes intently at Seina.
"Mama?" the girl said to Seina.

                                                             * * *

At the edge of the Menos Sector, a ship observed all that had taken place.
"Well, this is certainly an interesting twist." a female voice from within the ship said.
The woman sat forward in her chair and grined.
"Perhaps we won't need the second Ryoko after all. This young man seems like he will be far more useful to my agenda than Ryoko B ever was."
The woman chuckled.

                                                           * * *

Under a pile of rubble, something shuffled. Then something pushed it's way out of that rubble. Bruised and bloodied, Tarant Shank was still able to get to his feet. He had no idea what had just happened, but he did notice that the temperature on this ice world was drastically warmer.
Looking through his clothing, he came across what he needed- a communications device that he could use as a beacon to call his Guild for help. He hoped that his rescue from this planet was soon in coming.
But it was far more than rescue that he desired. This Devil Princess, whoever she may be, had shown her true treacherous side and betrayed him and his men. This would not go unanswered. Whatever fear he may have had of the Princess before had now vanished.
Vengeance would be his.

                                                                 END

[Zigra]

Episode 4


"But, I really need to, Mama!"

"I keep telling you, I don't have....those...to feed you with!" Seina tried to explain to the little girl.

But the girl was persistent. Ryoko, as Seina and the crew called her, not knowing what else to name her, continued to force herself on Seina. She was surprisingly strong for a girl of her size.   

Finally, "Ryoko" managed to push Seina to the ground. She ripped open his uniform and then, finding what she wanted, lowered her mouth to one of Seina's nipples and suckled away at it. From that moment on she was more relaxed. Amane and Kiriko weren't sure whether they found the scene funny, heartwarming, or whether they were savagely jealous of it.

Leaving their emotions towards Seina's current situation aside, the trio was still astounded by this girl. In the time it takes to get from the Menos Sector to GP headquarters, she had grown from the equivalent of a two year old, to the equivalent of a seven year old. And she showed no signs of stopping. The Galaxy Police's Science and Forensics Division was going to have a field day with this girl, if they could pry her away from Seina, that is.

In addition to the girl, there was also that purple egg that came along with her. If the creature inside was what Kiriko suspected, the GP would absolutely love to have their hands on one of those.

Indeed, the visit to HQ was going to be interesting one, Kiriko thought to herself. She had filed her report about the trio's discovery, and she got a quick response. But, the response apparently didn't have anything to do with little Ryoko. The trio was informed that there was some sort of brand new development, and that they were to go not to the nearest GP station, but all the way to HQ itself. Neither Kiriko nor Amane had any clue as to what could have been so important, let alone more important than their discovery.

In any rate, they would find out soon. The ship had finally arrived at HQ, and docking procedures had begun.

"Umm, could somebody please help me, here?" Seina cried as Ryoko continued to pin him down.

                                                             * * *

The feeling in the Director's office was tense as the trio waited for him to enter. Something serious was happening. When they walked through HQ, they could feel something wrong in the air. There was an intensity to everybody they encountered, as if the station was in a state of emergency of some sort. The tenseness reached a bursting point when Director L'sar finally arrived.

"Director, just what the hell is going on around here?!" Amane asked in a near-shout, unable to take it anymore.

The Director paid no mind to the outburst and explained the situation.

"I've summoned the three of you here because this involves you, or rather one of you, directly. Shortly after you completed your mission, HQ was bombarded by an unusual signal. This signal was powerful enough to override everything in the station. Every single computer console, including the main computer itself to individual consoles by lower ranking officers, was compromised. Once everything was taken over, we received this transmission."
L'sar turned on a video screen in the far wall of his office. An image popped up of what had to be the most beautiful woman Seina had ever seen. Pale green hair tied up in a ponytail, ghostly pale skin, and reddish-purple eyes. Seina couldn't help but notice that, even through the heavy clothing she was wearing, she still had a visible and impressive bustline. And Kiriko and Amane couldn't help but notice, to their agitation, how Seina stared at this woman and had a small drizzle of drool coming from the side of his mouth.

"Greetings, people of the Galaxy Police." the woman on the screen said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Orga Millenia. I am the one whom the people of this galaxy have given the title Devil Princess."
Seina, Amane, and Kiriko froze in shock.

"With introductions out of the way, allow me to get to the point. Minutes ago, my foot soldiers came up against a force that they were not able to overcome. It was the first time in my Syndicate's history that those foot soldiers had failed me. What was this force that they could not overcome? A mere boy. It just so happens that this boy appears to be in the service of your Galaxy Police."

Kiriko and Amane couldn't help but look at Seina when she said that.

"I'll be frank with you. I want this boy. And I'm willing to make a deal with you. Allow me to show you all something."
The image on the screen switched from the woman to the view of a planet. For a moment, the planet looked peaceful. Then a beam of energy hit the surface. Soon, the planet was enveloped by a wave of energy. When the energy wave subsided, the entire planet's surface was a scorched wasteland.

"The weapon whose power you've just observed is already being mass produced by my Syndicate. The planet you just saw it used on was uninhabited. However, that can change. If you do not hand this boy over to my Syndicate, I will use the weapon on one inhabited planet per week. I think people's lives in exchange for what I want is a fair deal, don't you think?"

The woman paused as she appeared to be typing something into a small device.

"I have given the coordinates for the location where you can hand over the boy. You have three Jurai days to decide. I look forward to your decision."
With that, the transmission ended.

"Ca...can this be for real?" Amane asked in disbelief.

"That is what we are trying to assess." the Director answered, "The nature of this is very odd. Never before has the Devil Princess revealed herself to outsiders, or even given any hard evidence of her existence. And the dire nature of her threat has created quite the emergency."
L'sar noticed that out of the three before him that Kiriko seemed less panicked and more lost in thought.

"Do you have something you want to share with the rest of us, Officer Masaki?" he asked her.

"It's just that, well, there was something awfully familiar about that woman." Kiriko explained, "I could have sworn I've seen her before, though I can't put my finger on where."
"Whatever the case," Amane said, changing the subject from what Kiriko was saying, "you aren't really considering handing Seina over to this woman, are you?"
"It's a complicated situation." the Director said, "We don't want to allow the Syndicate to cause the destruction that we've been threatened with. However, we also know how dangerous Seina's bad luck aura can be. There is the fear that if the Devil Princess gets a hold of him, she is going to try and weaponize his aura, and what she could do if she succeeds is unthinkable."
"I'll go." Seina chimed in.

Everybody looked at him in surprise.

"No! You can't!" Amane shouted, "You've heard the Director! We can't let this monster woman use you like that!"
"I can't let her kill so many innocent people." Seina explained, "But, you can rest assured that I have no intentions of letting anybody use me for such horrible purposes. I figure that if I let the Syndicate capture me, I can get on the inside and use my aura to stop them. I've already apparently dealt them a sound beating. If I use my power in the right way, maybe I can even get to the Devil Princess herself and put an end to her once and for all!"

The Director thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Not a bad idea. We'll hand Seina off at the coordinates we've been given, and hope that he can make good on his promise to finally stop this woman!"

                                                                * * *



"Ohhhh, what's taking Mommy so long?!"
Little Ryoko was getting tired of waiting for Seina's return. When Seina left, he told Ryoko to stay on the ship while he was away, and swore he wouldn't take too long. But each minute he was away seemed was an eternity in the girl's mind.

Suddenly, the girl began to feel very queazy. Instinctively she understood what this meant and what she had to do. She made her way through the ship to where the purple egg was being stored. She touched her forehead to the egg and a glowing symbol appeared on her forehead.

"It is time. We should find Mommy and get out of here!"

The egg's shell began to crack.

                                                               * * *



"The coordinates of the rendezvous point are....."
L'sar didn't get to finish his sentence before something shook the station. It was immediately followed by an alarm signaling a red alert.

"What the hell is going on?!" L'sar yelled into an intercom on his desk.

"Sir, a bizarre creature has broken through the hull of the station and is tearing the place apart! And.....it seems to be heading in your direction!"

The four of them got their weapons ready. They didn't even have a chance to leave the room before they heard the sounds of fighting and carnage outside. Whatever this creature was, it didn't take it long to reach where they were.

They ran outside the room prepared for battle. Seina was especially nervous, but he felt he was beginning to get use to this sort of thing. But he wasn't quite prepared for what he was about to see. At the end of the hall, the monster stood. Nearly ten feet tall, the beast had the mixed features of a bear and cat, but with rabbit-like ears. It held an unconscious Little Ryoko in one of it's arms. To Kiriko and Seina, this creature was all too recognizable.

"Well, it looks like the egg finally hatched." Kiriko muttered aloud.

Several GP officers opened fire on the beast, but a forcefield protected it. The monster then responded by shooting beams of energy from its ears, taking out everybody in its path. Then, the monster saw what it was looking for- Seina. It charged towards him, quickly knocking Amane, Kiriko, and Director L'sar aside.

Before Seina could react, the creature grabbed a hold of him with its free hand. It smashed its way into L'sar's office and towards the window. The beast ran towards the window, and then transformed into a mass of crystal that enveloped Ryoko and Seina. The crystal mass grew until it broke through the hull of the station. The vacuum of space began to suck everything and everybody near it towards the outside. L'sar, Amane, and Kiriko held on for dear life before a forcefield quickly appeared to block off the hole.

With the forcefield now keeping them safe from the void, the three of them looked outside the hole to see an unusual grey and silver ship flying away. Though there were differences, the ship bore an uncanny resemblance to both Ryo-ohki and Ken-ohki.

"We have to get him back!" Amane cried.

L'sar nodded. Not only did they need to get Seina back for the boy's own safety, but they needed him back because it would be disastrous if they weren't able to abide by the Devil Princess's wishes.

                                                                * * *



Seina opened his eyes. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but now he found himself sitting on a chair in what appeared to him to be the control room of a ship, complete with a control panel before him. All around the room were these unusual floating crystals.

Then he remembered. Little Ryoko was in that monster's clutches. He didn't know where he was now, but he had to make sure the girl was safe. He looked around and saw nobody else in the room. But then something caught his eye. In one far corner, a strange organic looking mass was lying on the floor. Seina was reminded very much of a cocoon when he saw that mass.

Seina tried to go over and get a closer look at the mass, but as he approached it one of the floating crystals blocked his path. On the crystal's face appeared the image of the monster who kidnapped him. The creature hissed at hissed at him, and he understood that this meant he was to stay away from the cocoon-thing. Seina backed off into a corner.

Just when Seina was wondering how long he was going to be trapped on this ship, the room was filled with a "rawwwr" noise not unlike an angry cat. Then an image appeared on a screen on the wall of two ships, one grey and silver, and one white, that Seina had a difficult time trying to think of a description of. A woman's voice filled the room.

"Come now, there is no need to be hostile. We just want to come aboard and examine you a bit."

The ship's angry noise subsided. Two figures teleported aboard. Seina recognized one of them instantly.

"Ryoko!"

"Seina Yamada?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

The other figure, a female with blue hair, red eyes, and marking painted on her face, brushed aside the conversation.

"There will be time for idle chatter later." Nagi said, "Right now, we seek the master of this ship."
Seina was too confused to know what to say. But Nagi seemed to find what she was looking for when she saw the cocoon.

"Ah, I see. If I'm not mistaken, she should be coming out of there soon." Nagi said, which only confused Seina further.

While they waited for whatever the hell it was Ryoko and Nagi were waiting for, Seina and Ryoko passed the time discussing what Seina was doing out in space. He told her the full story of how he met Amane (the beginning of which she found highly amusing) and how things went from there to him becoming a deputy of the Galaxy Police. Ryoko was just about to tell Seina about some good news in her life when movement from the cocoon suddenly drew their attention away.

The cocoon cracked and opened up. Rising up from it came a figure that Seina found both familiar and different at the same time. A young woman, with white skin and frizzy black hair. Seina's nose began to bleed over the woman's nude form. When the woman opened her eyes, Seina knew it for sure. It was Little Ryoko. And now she appeared as an adult..She then looked around the room until she saw Seina.

"Mommy!"

The girl got up and ran towards Seina, still fully nude. She latched on to him, making him feel awkward.

"Well, Seina, looks like you've got yourself quite a catch." the elder Ryoko said slyly.

A red light went off on a band around Nagi's wrist.

"Looks like we've got company."

Nagi and the elder Ryoko went over to the screen and pushed some buttons on the console. The image of a fleet of GP ships appeared on the screen. Nagi read saw that one of the ships was trying to hail them. She answered the hail, and the image of Kiriko and Amane appeared on the screen. They immediately saw young Ryoko hanging on Seina in the nude.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, SEINA???!!!" they yelled in unison.

                                                           * * *



Seina, Amane, and Kiriko held a meeting with Nagi and elder Ryoko to discuss young Ryoko (who was still hanging on Seina).

"We sensed the awakening of another cabbit like Ryo-ohki and Ken-ohki. We then knew that another of our kind was out there." Nagi explained.

"Another of your kind? Just what exactly are you?" Seina asked.

"We don't know, exactly."  Nagi answered, "It's a long story, but Nagi and I were both awakened by the Millenium Syndicate. Neither of us have any memory from before that time. We were both experimented on by them, only to break free when our cabbits were finally born and our powers reached their height. We both....went our separate ways after that. When we sensed that another of our kind, we both sought her out in hopes of finding answers about our origins."

"But, she doesn't seem to remember anything prior to her awakening, either." elder Ryoko added.

"So, Ryoko...." Amane tried to say to the younger girl.

The girl then reached over and slapped Amane.

"Don't call me that, bitch! Ryoko is a stupid name!"

The elder Ryoko began to fume, while Nagi looked highly amused.

"What do you want us to call you, then?" Seina asked the girl.

"My real name is....Balta." she answered, "And my cabbit is Fuku."

"I guess that is settled then." Nagi said, "Since we won't be able to find any more answers, Ryoko and I might as well take our leave. We'll leave Balta here with you guys, since she seems so attached to you."
"See ya around, Seina!" Ryoko said as she and Nagi made their leave.

The former pirate and the bounty hunter beamed aboard their respective ships and were off.

"Mommy?"
"Yes, Ry...Balta?" Seina answered.

"I need to nurse again!"

"ACK!!!!!"

                                                                    END

[Zigra]

Episode 5: Cerebus Syndrome

Aasu Kaunaq read through the file regarding his current subject. Ikari. Shinji. It was quite a sordid tale surrounding this young man.

Ten years ago, on some backwater planet, five year old Asuka Langley Soryu vanished in a shopping center when her mother turned her back for just a few moments. Security for the center searched the place up and down, but there was no sign of the girl.

When the girl could not be found in the shopping center, footage from the security cameras was examined. Expecting the girl to have been kidnapped by some adult pedophile, nothing could have prepared anybody for what the footage showed. Asuka was indeed taken from the center by somebody. But it was no adult. The footage showed the little girl being led out of the center by two boys, each approximately ten years old.

Local police then conducted a city-wide search for Asuka, asking for the public's help in giving them any leads on the girl's whereabouts or the identity of the two boys that took her. Before long, everybody's worst fears were realized. Asuka's body was discovered by a train track a few miles from the shopping center. Her body was placed on the track in a way that suggested whoever put her there intended to make it look like she was killed by a passing train. However, a quick examination of the girl's body showed that several massive wounds she had received were clearly done before her body was placed on the tracks, and these wounds were the true cause of death. Even more disturbing was the fact that the body had semen on it.

Having gone from a missing person's case to a murder case, the police were now determined even more than ever to find the two boys. The images of the boys taking Asuka from the shopping center were all over the local news. Eventually, an anonymous tip led them to the home of a boy named Shinji Ikari. All hell was about to break loose.

It would turn out that this Shinji boy was the son of famed geneticist Yui Ikari and her husband Gendo. They were not natives of the planet, and in fact were staying there temporarily for a project that Yui was working on. It was soon realized that this case was now too high profile for the local police. The Galaxy Police would have to be called in.

The GP arrived on the world to take Shinji in for questioning. The boy was tearful and seemed terrified. While he tried to lie to the interrogators at first, it didn't take him long to cave in and admit that he did take Asuka from the shopping center. However, he swore up and down that he wasn't the one who killed her. According to him, it was actually the other boy who was responsible.

Tarant Shank. That was the identity of the other boy. Shank was quickly apprehended by the GP. A local boy that Shinji had apparently befriended during his stay on this world, Tarant came from a seedy family who was known for a criminal history. When questioned by interrogators, Tarant came off as very hardened and unfeeling. He wouldn't say much about what happened to Asuka, other than the words "it was Shinji that done that".

The GP felt they had enough to charge both the boys, and it wasn't long before the case went to trial. Due to Shinji's famed mother, the trial was something of a sensation across the known galaxy. Everybody was paying close attention to it. Furthermore, the people of the galaxy were moved to tears by the plight of young Ikari boy. It was pretty apparent to everybody that, due to his tearful account of what occurred combined with Tarant's seemingly cold disposition towards the whole ordeal that Shinji was an innocent who was dragged along into the crime by his psychopathic bully of a friend. To the galaxy's media, the Shank boy was the obvious villain and nobody questioned otherwise.

And it wasn't just the media. The Galaxy Police themselves felt the same way. Their certainty of Shank's exclusive guilt was so great that at first they went along with that assumption and didn't look at the evidence any further (a common tendency of the GP which would later get them in hot water when they unquestioningly aided an evil usurper to the throne of Jurai). However, one investigator was not convinced. Officer Shiiko Makibi looked deeper into the evidence that the GP brushed aside and found holes in Shinji's story. Ikari's story didn't quite match up with certain details of how Asuka was believed to have died. One thing that was especially quite telling was the fact that Shinji said nothing about the sexual abuse that Asuka suffered during the attack.

Shiiko did some further investigation. She eventually discovered that there were a number of people who witnessed the two boys with Asuka, witnesses that the GP didn't bother to look for. The witness accounts that Shiiko found all had a common thread- that the darker haired boy (Shinji) was clearly the ring leader. Officer Makibi then searched the place where the Ikaris were staying, in particular Shinji's room. She discovered blood stained shoes hidden under his bed. She also managed to find some samples of Shinji's hair in order to test a theory of hers. She took this evidence to the coroner. What the coroner found did not shock her at all. Not only was the blood on Shinji's shoes Asuka's, but his shoes matched the markings on the girl's body where she had repeatedly been stomped on. Even worse, the coroner examined the semen on Asuka, and ran a DNA test from the hair samples. Not only did it match, but it was determined that the semen came from only Shinji, meaning he alone was the one responsible for the sexual assault (and on top of that, she had apparently been assaulted after her death, to Shiiko's horror).

Officer Makibi brought the evidence to her superiors, and threatened to go to the media if they didn't present the evidence to the court. They reluctantly caved in, and the new evidence was brought into the trial. Shinji was brought to the stand and re-questioned regarding this evidence. When the prosecutor backed the boy into a wall, he suddenly fell silent. The tears stopped, and slowly a grin formed on the Ikari boy's face. A sadistic little giggle was the only warning the female prosecution lawyer got before the boy lunged at her. The guards in the room weren't able to pull Shinji off fast enough before the damage had been done. The people in the courtroom were horrified as they saw the blood all over Shinji's face, complete with the flesh he had bitten off from the lawyer's face. It was said that they never were able to save the poor woman's eye.

A day afterwards, Shinji and Tarant were sentenced. Shinji would be placed in the psychiatric ward of one of the GP's top prisons. The boy seemed totally emotionless to this sentence. Tarant, for his smaller role in the crime, would spend a few years in a juvenile detention facility. For the first time in the trial, tears rolled down the Shank boy's eyes.

That was where the report of the trial ended. What the report didn't say was that after the sentencing, Shiiko Makibi observed the reaction of Shinji's parents towards the whole mess. Gendo remained stern and devoid of expression throughout it all, even after the sentence. What disturbed Shiiko even more, however, was that Yui herself seemed amused by the whole thing. Shiiko then wondered what could turn a young boy into such a monster, and what kind of parents the Ikaris were. She knew that this was a question that, unlike this murder, she would likely never get to investigate.

Aasu closed the file, a pleasant smile forming on his face.

"Yes, yes, yes, I can see why Her Highness has such a strong interest in this Ikari boy."

He peered out from the window in his ship as it approached the GP facility where his meeting would take place.

                                                                * * *




Aasu entered the cell. The guards who led him there were extremely worried about letting him do this, but their superiors assured them that all would be well.

He stared at the wretch sitting on the floor on the far side of the cell. Shinji Ikari sat motionless with his head hanging low. It was as if the young man was in the deepest pit of despair. Aasu knew better. Many had fallen for this facade in the past. Many who had let their guard down around Shinji now had permanent horrific injuries. The ones that survived did, that is. Aasu was not concerned about any of this as he confidently approached Ikari.

"Get up!" Aasu yelled as he gave Shinji a swift kick in the stomach.

That was all it took. When the shock from the blow subsided, Shinji quickly got to his feet and charged at an unflinching Aasu. Aasu effortlessly grabbed Ikari by the neck and lifted him from the floor.

"Good, good." the blond-haired man said to the dark haired youth he held in his grip, "You certainly do have the potential that my Lady seeks."

Aasu then threw Shinji into the wall, just enough to hurt him but not enough to do any real damage.

"However, if you are to serve Her, you shall need some...upgrades. I've made a few arrangements with the Galaxy Police. You are to be a free man, my dear Shinji. Free, that is, to serve my Lady."

Sir Kaunaq looked down at Ikari, who said nothing, simply giving a questioning look.

"Of course, this deal doesn't come without some incentives."
Aasu tossed a piece of paper at Shinji. Shinji grabbed it for a look. A photograph. A green-haired girl with brilliant violet eyes, approximately age 10 or 11. She was tied up and looked as if her spirit was completely broken. Aasu could see the excitement swelling in Shinji's eyes.

"A young priestess in training from the planet Melmas who made the mistake of crossing my Lady." Aasu explained, "There are many more like her. Serve my Lady, and she and the rest are yours to do with as you please."
As a smile appeared on Shinji's face, Aasu then grabbed him by the hair and made the young man look him in the eyes. Aasu's eyes then glowed with a bright white light.

"Know this, however. If you ever refuse us or go back on this bargain, I will personally do things to you which will make you wish you were still rotting in this cell."

Shinji recoiled in horror. The blond man's voice had become much deeper and inhuman, like some demon from the deepest levels of Hell. Shinji didn't know what the hell this man was, but he clearly wasn't a normal human being. He now understood his choices in the matter.

"I...I...will go with you." Ikari replied.

                                                           * * *

Amane gasped as she darted awake. She collected herself quickly. It was nothing unusual for her. For many nights of her life this would occur. A bizarre dream, possibly a nightmare. She didn't know for sure, as she would would be unable to remember it once she awoke. All she knew is that she would always wake up from this dream in shock like it were a nightmare, and also that the dream was somehow more like a memory of past events, though she could not say what they were.

The sight of the boy sleeping next to her gave her a bit of reassurance, but not as much as she wanted. This was to be Seina's last night before he got handed over to the Syndicate. Earlier in the night, Amane and Seina managed to get some alone time away from Kirkio and Balta. Seina had expressed his fears over what was to come, and Amane told him that she feared for him as well. It was in that moment of weakness that they found themselves in each other's arms and here they were now. Amane amused herself with the thoughts of how Kiriko would react.

She rolled over and embraced the slumbering boy. For now, she would savor the time she had left with him.

                                                                   * * *

That following afternoon, the ship carrying Seina and his teammates reached the rendezvous point specified by the Syndicate.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Kiriko asked Seina.

"I don't know if I would ever be ready." Seina answered, "But I've got to do it!"

"Oh, Mommy, please be careful!" Balta said as she embraced the boy.

"For once, I would have to agree with her." Amane told him, "Take care of yourself out there."

Amane gave Seina a peck on the cheek, and enjoyed the glare coming from Kiriko.

'Just remain calm and keep your mind on the matter at hand.' Kiriko thought to herself.

The Syndicate vessel arrived right as scheduled. Kiriko was tempted to blow it out of the stars right then and there. However, she knew it wouldn't do any good, as the Devil Princess most likely did not appear personally for this exchange. She never did like to show herself, except for that video (which still troubled Kiriko as she was more than certain she had seen that woman before).

Seina stepped onto the transporter. He gave one final look to his friends.

"Don't worry about me, you guys. I'll be back for sure! And I'll have taken down the Devil Princess on top of it!"

The girls smiled and gave him the GP salute before he was beamed away.

                                                            * * *

Seina found himself on the Syndicate ship and was immediately pulled aside and patted down by the men that "greeted" him. Before they got a chance to do that, something lept from out of Seina's uniform. The men did not see it, for it was cloaked in invisibility. Fuku, Balta's cabbit, had stowed away with Seina. The cabbit would be secretely keeping an eye on Seina throughout this mission.

                                                            * * *

As the Syndicate ship departed, Kiriko and crew then had no choice but to return to GP HQ. None of them saw what happened next. Nor did anybody on either side of the exchange consider what would occur if Seina was suddenly so far removed from Kiriko's Jurai Power.

Where the Syndicate vessel made the jump into hyperspace, a fissure in the fabric of space opened up. Out of the fissure popped a ship. This ship was unusual for that its hull appeared to be made out of mostly wood. One could have mistaken it for the Jurai ships of this universe if it weren't for its odd shape.

Aboard the ship, a lone inhabitant studied both its whereabouts and its situation.

"Now where the fuck am I?!"

                                                           END

[Zigra]

Episode 6- Idiot Ball


"Officers, I have called you all here today because yet another matter of great urgency has reared its head." L'sar announced.
Everybody in the room was eager to know what exactly could be as urgent as the current crisis with the Devil Princess. Even Amane and Kiriko, who had otherwise been concerned with Seina's current situation, were now at full attention.

"Shortly after Deputy Yamada was delivered to the Millenium Syndicate, we detected an unusual anomaly near the location of the transfer. An investigation revealed a rip in the fabric of space in that region. The rift closed before he would investigate it further, but not before something came through."

L'sar drew everybody's attention to the viewing screen. The screen showed the image of a ship with an odd wooden hull. The ship reminded Kiriko of the royal tree-ships of Jurai, yet it had a unique shape and design.

"Now," L'sar continued on, "this ship has an appearance very similar to the royal ships of Jurai. However, scans have detected that this ship has some manner of energy that is not only different from the known Jurai Power, but could also rival that of the Jurai Power."

Everybody in the room gasped, particularly Kiriko. A power that could rival that of Jurai? Such was unthinkable. It was as if everybody had just been told that something could kill God himself.

"The current trajectory of the ship shows that it is on a course for Jurai space. All efforts to communicate with it have failed, leading some to believe that it may be unmanned."

"What are the plans to deal with it?" one officer asked the question that everybody was thinking.

"Since we're dealing with a power far beyond our means to challenge, provoking it by launching an attack is out of the question. So, instead we and the Juraian royal family have devised a plan to try and get aboard the ship and see if it can be shut down or communicated with from within. For this, we are assigning a GP task force to join together with a platoon of Juraian soldiers."

L'sar looked over to where Kiriko and Amane were sitting.

"Officer Kiriko, because you have the closest ties with Jurai, I am assigning you to lead our task force with this mission. Amane will be joining you."
"Yes, sir!" Kiriko said with full confidence. Amane wasn't so enthusiastic, but held her tongue.

L'sar gave Kiriko the details of the team she'll be leading and when they would begin their mission. Then he dismissed everybody. As Kirkio and Amane were about to leave, he stopped them.

"Officers Masaki and Kaunaq, before you leave I have somebody here you two need to meet. Kaunaq, your father has requested that I make this young man your deputy to fill Seina's shoes for the time being."
At the mention of her father, Amane's left eyebrow was raised. Then L'sar requested on the intercom for somebody to come into the room. In walked a young man, approximately in his late teens or early twenties. Very scrawny, with black hair and light brown skin. Kiriko and Amane were a bit taken aback by the fact that this young man seemed to give off little or no presence. He had a look of fear and anxiousness on his face that made them both wonder how he would fare in a serious mission like the one they were about to go on.

"Umm, hi. My name is Ikari. Shinji."

                                                 

                                                                  * * *



The ship carrying Kiriko's new team approached the location of the mysterious ship. Kiriko felt unease and uncertainty about what was to come. As with any mission where one's life is on the line, such was to be expected. However, it wasn't just the mission that bothered her. Both she and Amane felt unnerved by Shinji, the new deputy.

Kiriko looked back at Shinji. As usual, the young man looked scared and nervous, keeping himself within an emotional shell. Kiriko and Amane would be worried about how a guy like that would fare on such a potentially dangerous mission, but that wasn't what put them at such unease. What bothered them was that they felt a strange aura of emptiness surrounding Shinji, as if underneath frightened man was simply a big nothingness. They couldn't explain it, but they both felt it. It also bothered Amane that her father, of all people, was the one that assigned Shinji to them.

Kiriko moved such thoughts to the back of her mind. There were more pressing matters at hand. The mystery ship was now on their viewing screen. Both the GP crew and the ship carrying the Jurai troops prepared themselves for what was to come. If the ship still didn't respond to communications, both teams would go out in special space suits, go onto the ship's hull, and either find a way in or drill a hole in the ship to get aboard. It was risky, but the Juraians were determined to keep this ship out of their space.

Kiriko took a deep breath. As the one put in charge of this mission, she would be the one to make the final attempt at communication with the vessel.

"Alien vessel, this is Officer Kiriko Masaki, and you are...."

Before she could go any further, a wave of energy came over the GP ship and the Jurai ship, and in an instant they both vanished.

                                                              * * *

"...tres..passing....."

Kiriko and her team were left speechless. One moment, they were in the middle of space. The next moment, their ship and the Jurai ship were in what appeared to be the atmosphere of a planet. Far below them, they could see a landscape lush with greenery.The ship's scanner showed that they were completely surrounded by some sort of energy field, possibly the same energy emitted by the mysterious ship.

"Jurai team," Kiriko said, hailing the other ship, "what is your status?"

"We are all okay, here. Based on our readings, we seem to be in some sort of pocket universe. We believe that this pocket universe is within the alien ship."

Kiriko and Amane looked at each other, wide-eyed. They weren't sure how the Juraians could have come up with such findings, but it was amazing nonetheless.

Then Kiriko heard it. A voice, calling out to her specifically. She didn't bother asking Amane or anybody else if they heard it, because she could somehow tell that the voice was only in her mind.

"Furthermore," the Jurai commander went on, "we believe we've traced the source of the energy to...."
"Two miles northwest of here." Kiriko answered, "I know. We are heading in that direction now."

The Jurai crew understood and simply assumed that the GP crew had the same readings as them. Amane and everybody else in the control room of the GP ship, on the other hand, all wondered how Kiriko got the information she did, though nobody questioned her.

Both ships flew to the specified coordinates. Upon reaching that point, they saw only one thing. Standing in the middle of a field of grass was a tree. There seemed to be nothing special about this tree aside from a walkway leading to it.

"Is that...?" Amane asked.

Kiriko nodded silently. Everybody on the Jurai crew looked at each other anxiously. What they were seeing was all too familiar, yet they couldn't believe it.

"Alright, we're all going down to investigate that...power source. Let the Juraians know." Kiriko announced.

With that, the entire GP crew gathered their armor and gear prepared for whatever awaited them below. Kiriko knew that the entity that contacted her was no hostile, but there was some hint of a danger that it seemed to be warning her about.

The crew teleported down to the ground below and met the Jurai crew. With Kiriko at the lead, they all approached the tree. Upon their approach, the tree emitted several beams of colorful light in various directions, leaving everybody in stunned silence. It was just like the trees that power Jurai's ships. But how could such a thing be?

Kiriko confidently walked up to the tree, while everybody watched. She placed her hand against its trunk. Images poured through her mind, and she understood. Within a minute, she took her hand away from the tree and addressed both crews.

"Everybody, this is going to be a bit hard to understand. This tree is a Jurai ship."

Everybody gasped.

"But, how can that be?" one of the Juraians asked, "There is no ship like this among our fleet!"

"That's because this ship is from another universe, and it is of that universe's equivalent of Jurai."

Kiriko let both crews chatter among themselves before continuing on.

"This other universe is not so much a alternate reality as it is a completely separate universe. It has some similarities to our own, but also vast differences. Like our universe, the other Jurai uses ships powered by sentient trees. However, the difference there is that the trees are also the source of the power that Jurai wields rather than the source being any sort of "Jurai Power". And the trees get their power from the being that gave birth to them, a Goddess named Tsunami."

"Blasphemy!" one Jurai soldier cried out, "There is only one God, and he gave his power exclusively to the true people of Jurai!"

"This is all very fascinating," the Jurai commander said, ignoring his subordinate's outburst, "but why has this ship chosen to communicate with you among all of us?"

"Because, this ship, which goes by the name Mizuki, was partnered with the other universe's version of me." Kiriko explained.

"How did the ship end up in this universe?" Amane asked.

Kiriko turned and touched the tree again to find the answer to that question. When she was done, her eyes widened in alarm.

"Mizuki came under attack by a criminal of an extra-universal race called the Drakciimerae. The creature managed to get aboard Mizuki, and during its raid a dimensional rift from an unknown source opened up and swallowed both the creature and the ship. The creature is still aboard the ship somewhere, Mizuki being unable to track its whereabouts. She says that the monster must not be allowed to escape into our universe!"

Everybody understood. Whatever this creature was, it was now up to them to stop it.

"The creature was last spotted in the forest to the west. We should begin our search there." Kiriko said.

"You all heard her." the Jurai commander announced, "We should all split up into teams of two and comb the forest."

Both groups did as commanded and each individual joined with a partner. Kiriko decided to stay behind and guard the tree itself.

"I....I want to stay here with you." Shinji nervously said to Kiriko.

Kiriko decided that the deputy would be better off not getting in the middle of a conflict.

"Alright, you can stay here." she said.

As Kiriko turned away, she didn't catch the smirk on Shinji's face.

                                                                * * *

As the different groups of Jurai and GP troops approached the forest, they didn't realize that they were being watched.

"Oh, fuck me! Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse!"

                                                                * * *



A pair of GP officers, one man and one woman, had been in the forest for about five minutes, their guns held high. It was awfully quiet in this forest, as if something had killed off any life that might have once lived within it. Neither one of them noticed what was in the trees above them.

Before either could react, the male officer was grabbed from above and pulled up into a tree. His screams were quickly silenced as torn off body parts fell to the ground. The unfortunate man's partner panicked at fired her weapon randomly at the trees above her. She didn't have time to scream as a dark shape fell upon her.

                                                                 * * *

A pair of Jurai soldiers heard the sounds of gunfire and quickly ran to its source. Both of them nearly lost their lunch when they came upon the mutilated body. The sight of this left them too distracted to hear something come up from behind them.

One of the soldiers looked over just in time to see a large clawed hand grab a hold of his partner's head. In an instant, the man's head was crushed into paste. As the shadowy figure that just killed his partner turned its attention towards him, the remaining soldier slashed at the attacker with his beam saber weapon and jumped aside.

He looked up and saw that whatever the attacker was was still moving towards him. The soldier wondered how that could be, since he was sure the saber struck it.

The soldier then held his saber up in a defensive posture. The shadowy creature simply swiped at him with its claws. The soldier looked in horror as the beam saber fell to pieces.

"How the hell can that be?" the soldier cried out "My saber is made of energy! How can it fall apart like a solid object?!"

"I think the real question," the creature answered, "is how you've been able to stay together for so long."
As the soldier wondered what the creature meant, he suddenly paused. Then his body fell to pieces.

                                                                 * * *

Things were not going well for the troops. Two by two, the monster picked them off. Amane and her male partner were among the last few left. They tried to meet up with another team just in time to see that team get slaughtered.

Amane and her partner opened fire on the creature. Apparently unhurt by that, it turned towards them, and Amane finally got a good look at what they were up against. The monster stood nearly 8 feet tall. It was reptilian, with golden scale, a head that had an elongated snout and two horns protruding from the back. It had a vaguely humanoid build and wore black armor.

As the monster moved towards them, Amane suddenly got an idea. She spoke into the communication device on her wrist.

"Kiriko! Tell Mizuki that the creature is at these coordinates!"

Amane gave the coordinates to Kiriko, and as the monster was just about to make its kill, beams of light shot up from the ground around it. The beams of light then snaked around the creature, wrapping it up completely and pulling it to the ground. It was now captured.

Caught up in the heat of the moment, Amane's partner opened fire on the captured monster, aiming directly at its head. The gunfire didn't harm the creature in the least.

"What the fuck are you?" Amane said to the beast.

                                                              * * *

Kiriko was relieved when Amane gave her the news of the monster's capture. She was so relieved that she had let her guard down. She didn't see Shinji attach a device to his hand and then use it to latch on to Mizuki.

"Kiriko!" Mizuki cried out in Kiriko's mind.

Kiriko turned to see what Shinji was doing. She rushed over to try and stop him, but he pointed his firearm at her and shot her. She fell to the ground, clutching the area where she had been shot.

"As amusing as this little show with you and that monster has been, I'm afraid I have to do what I came here to do." Shinji said to Mizuki, "Now, your power will be mine, child of the heathen goddess!"

Mizuki felt her power being drained from her.

                                                                   * * *

Unaware of what was transpiring with Kiriko and Mizuki, Amane and her partner were caught off guard when the beams of energy that bound the monster suddenly disappeared.

"Now it's time to finish that bitch once and for all!" the monster said.

A pair of large membranous wings sprouted from the monster's back as it took to the air.

                                                                 * * *

As Shinji continued leeching Mizuki's power into himself, he didn't see the creature approaching them from the air, so it took him by surprise when the monster landed just a few feet from him.

"Outta my way, twerp! The tree-bitch is mine!" the monster said to Shinji

Feeling envigorated by the power in his body, Shinji decided to lunge at the creature. Shinji was more than a little surprised when the monster simply smacked him aside like he was nothing.

As the monster moved in on Mizuki, Kiriko used what strength she had to go up to the creature and slap something on its back. The creature turned around, looking at Kiriko in confusion before it was teleported away. Kiriko breathed a sigh of relief before Mizuki spoke to her.

"Kiriko, what have you done?"
"I teleported the beast into space where it will suffocate in the vacuum."

Mizuki then showed Kiriko's mind the image of the creature outside in space. To Kiriko's shock, the creature didn't seem to be the least bit affected by being out in the vacuum. It simply unfurled its wings and then did something else Kiriko did not expect- flew into subspace and took off at left the area at warp speed.

As Kiriko pondered in horror at what she had just done, Shinji walked up to her, his firearm pointed at her head.

"This time I'll finish you!" he told her.

Before he could fire a shot off, beams of light came from Mizuki and wrapped around Shinji bounding him up.

"Shit. Forgot you could do that." he said.

                                                                 * * *

As the Drakciimerae renegade flew threw subspace, he pondered his current situation. While this universe might be unfamilar to him, it was apparent that it was still rich with life. He would have to stop by the nearest planet for a quick snack......



                                                                  END

[Zigra]

Episode 7

L'sar watched the video footage in dead silence. The footage came from a small colony on a world just outside Jurai's territory. It showed a winged reptilian creature with golden scales crashing through the colony's protective dome. Like a cheap special effect from a bad monster movie, the ground beneath the creature exploded in fire and sparks as it landed. In the video's final moments, people of the colony were seen fleeing in terror before things went black.

Nobody knew exactly what became of the colonists, though L'sar had a rather horrific thought regarding that based on reports. When the GP arrived in response to the colony's distress signal, they found the colony empty of people. However, there were sightings from off worlders of a large object leaving the sector of the colony's planet. The object was sleek like some manner of ship, yet it appeared to be made out of......flesh.

"What now? According to one survivor of our mission to retrieve that mysterious ship, that monster was unwittingly unleashed by us." L'sar explained to the other individual in the room.

"The people of the galaxy need not know the GP is responsible." Aasu Kaunaq said, "Unlike the Kagato debacle, we can easily cover up the Galaxy Police's role in setting this creature loose. Right now, the creature is not my primary concern."

L'sar knew what Aasu was talking about. The new operative, Shinji Ikari, had not reported back after the mission's failure. But he was also not listed among the casualties. Which, to L'sar, meant one thing.

"Do you think the others captured him?"
"It's a possibility, I suppose." Aasu said almost dismissively, "However, if that is indeed the case, I do have a backup plan for the boy. It's time to finally put my daughter to use....."

                                                               * * *

It was time to question the captive. After his capture, Shinji was placed in a holding cell aboard Kiriko's ship. There was a great deal of anxiety for Amane on this matter, as she wanted to know how much of Shinji's actions were done at her father's behest. While she was never particularly close to the man, he was still her father, and the thought that she might have to stand against him didn't give her a good feeling.

As Kiriko and Amane entered the cell, Shinji remained in his usual position of sitting against the wall with his head hanging low as if in a state of despair. Neither woman was falling for it. In fact, Shinji's faux display of despair, an apparent attempt to win sympathy, combined with Amane's own anxiety over her father was finally too much on the woman's nerves. She ran over and gave Shinji a swift kick in his gut before being restrained by Kiriko.

"Enough with your little act, you fucker!" Amane yelled as Kiriko struggled to pull her back, "Tell me what why my father sent you!"

"Heh heh, so much like him." Shinji said as he held his hand to his stomach where he had been kicked. He raised his head to show that his look of depression had switched to a grin.

"Why did Aasu Kaunaq send you?" Kiriko asked calmly, still holding back a screaming and thrashing Amane.

Shinji turned his head to the side and continued grinning.

"I know no such person." he said, "I only serve my God."

"Your god?" Kiriko asked.

Amane calmed down, suddenly interested in what the boy was saying.

"My God, the One True God, Aten!" Shinji proclaimed.

Kiriko was confused. She knew that name. Aten was the name of a sun deity worshiped in the ancient Earth nation of Egypt. This deity was notable to Earth historians due to an Egyptian king by the name of Akhenaten establishing a monotheistic state religion dedicated to Aten and how he attempted to have this new religion overshadow the worship of Egypt's other gods. That attempt failed, and Egypt was restored to its original polytheistic faith after Akhenaten's death. But what did this sun god have to do with Shinji?

As Kiriko pondered this, she didn't notice Amane's eyes glaze over. Something about Shinji's words lit a spark in Amane's brain. Those lost memories which always came to her in her dreams and vanished when she awoke were now flooding her waking mind.

"Yes! The Great Sun Disk, Aten! When I was at my lowest, He found me and gave me sweet release!" Shinji boasted even louder, as if giving a speech for a large audience, "Soon, this whole universe shall know the One God's glory!"

Amane clutched her head and screamed as if in pain.

"Amane, what's wrong?!" Kiriko asked, rushing to her partner's side.

Shinji chuckled. What neither women realized is that Shinji had smuggled something into his cell with him- a small device, which he had hidden in his rectum so they wouldn't find it when they searched him. Shortly before Kiriko and Amane entered the cell, Shinji activated the device, and that device, along with his little speech, was now doing its work.

Amane fell to the floor, as countless images assaulted her mind. Memories, not of her own. A vision shown from the point of view of somebody with a gathering of countless people bowing to the individual in fear. A vision of people being pacified by warriors in golden armor with strange staff weapons. Visions of planets being assaulted by great ships built in the shape of pyramids. The image of an uprising of the golden-armored warriors turning against the one whose memories these images came from. The vision of said individual fleeing their own universe. Finally, the image of Amane's father being held down and looking in horror as something from Amane's point of view lunged at him and forced its way into his throat.

Kiriko rushed over to try and help her partner, and made the mistake of taking her eyes off Shinji. Kiriko never knew what hit her as Shinji hand-chopped the back of her head, knocking her out.

With Kiriko out of the way, Shinji waited for Amane to calm down. Soon, her crying and thrashing stopped and she no longer clutched her head. Her look of agony was replaced by a smile. Amane got to her feet, and Shinji bowed before her.

"Harcises child, your humble servant awaits your command." Shinji declared to her.

"My first command is that you stop your pathetic groveling, you festering pile of dung!" Amane growled.

Shinji, unperturbed, got to his feet.

"What do we do with the this woman?" Shinji asked, pointing to Kiriko's unconscious form.

"Throw the little harlot out the hatch! I have no use for her!" Amane answered.

"And that tree-ship?"
"I'd say that your lousy attempt at gaining its power is a lost cause at this point. Just dump that GP bitch out and let's get out of here!"

                                                               * * *



Before the Kiriko's ship made the jump to hyperspace, Kiriko's body was dumped out into the void. Neither Amane nor Shinji could have guessed that Kiriko's latent Jurai power would have protected her from the lack of oxygen, nor did they stick around long enough to see Kiriko being teleported away.

                                                               * * *



"Get your ass in there!"

Seina found himself thrown into a cell. It had been a long and bumpy ride getting from the rendezvous point to wherever this facility was. Seina didn't blame these men for being so angry at him. What few of those men were left, that is.

After their first hyperspace jump, they found themselves in an unknown location and were soon pursued by an unusual cube-shaped ship. The occupants of this ship were a race cybernetic people who beam aboard the syndicate ship and made of with several crew members.

The next jump brought them to an underwater location, of all places. In this underwater place was a city built in strange geometric shapes. The worst part, though, was that the city was being overseen by a skyscraper sized monster with the body of a gargoyle and a head that looked like an octopus. Many of the crew would lose their sanity over this.

And it went on and on before the syndicate ship finally made its way to its homebase. Seina watched the man as the man who threw him in the cell angrily strolled off. The man didn't make it very far. Soon, he clutched his chest in pain. A heart attack? He then fell to the floor and started convulsing like mad. Then, something burst out of the man's chest in a bloody mess. A small faceless creature. The creature hissed and then scurried down the hallway. Must have had something to do with that spider-scorpion thing that latched on to the man's face on that one world, Seina thought.

"Who's there?" came a female voice from behind Seina.

It was rather dark in the cell, so he didn't see her at first. When she stepped out into spot where there was enough light to get a look at her, Seina's blood froze. The woman closely resembled those zombie-things he encountered on the ice planet, save for the fact that her skin was light tan instead of white, her hair dark brown instead of blue, and with brown eyes that seemed to match her hair. When Seina didn't speak to her out of fear, she spoke on.

"Are you him?"
"Wh...wh...who?"

"The boy who can cause bad luck."

"H...how do you know?"

"Word travels fast, even in these prison walls. I can even guess why it is you fear me. It's because you saw them, didn't you?"
"Them?"
"The Reis. The pale creatures that look like me."

Seeing as this woman didn't try to attack him and eat his entrails, Seina calmed down. He now felt comfortable enough to speak to this woman without stuttering. He related to her the story of his encounter with the Reis in the Menos Sector, and wondered aloud what this woman's connection to them was.

"Ah, yes, I can explain all that." she said, "First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Yui Ikari. I am a galaxy-renowned geneticist. To make a long story short, the Millenium Syndicate took me captive after my husband sold me out to them. They forced me to create an army of foot soldiers for them, the Reis. To create these creatures, I had to combine my own DNA with some sort of compound that they referred to as Organizer G1. These creatures have been a blight to the galaxy ever since."
"That's awful!" Seina exclaimed.

"Yes, but now that you are here, there is hope for me." Yui said.

"What do you mean?"
"I mean that aura of yours should kick in in just..a....bit..."
The whole cell shook as they heard the sound of an explosion. Guards ran past the cell, ignoring the dead man with his burst open chest as they rushed by. "It's an attack!" Seina could hear them say.

Another explosion rocked the facility, and this time the force field that held Seina and Yui in their cell vanished.

"Come on, let's go!" Yui cried.

Seina was more than happy to oblige. But, as he prepared to follow Yui, he felt something. It was like somebody was crying out, only in his mind. He turned around and noticed that there was another cell next the one he was in. He felt compelled to look inside.

He gazed into the cell. The force field for this cell had shut off as well. He heard a moaning sound, and moved further in. When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw a small girl, about 10 or eleven he thought, lying against the wall with her eyes closed. As his eyes adjusted even more, he noted her light green hair.

"What are you doing?!" Yui yelled back at him.

"There's a girl in here! I have to help her!" Seina replied.

"Leave her! We need to get out of here!" Yui said.
"I won't leave this girl behind!"

Seina rushed out, carrying the child over his back. He and Yui then made a break for it. They got a ways down the hall, Yui strangely seeming to know the whole route, before they were blocked off by a group of men.

"We could have gotten out of here if you didn't go back for that girl!" Yui snapped at Seina, who glared at her in shock.

"Well well well, if it isn't Shinji's mommy." said the apparent leader of the men blocking them off, a young man with tan skin and white hair.

"Tarant!" Yui said in recognition.

"Yeah, it's me. Long time no see, bitch!"

Tarant then looked over towards Seina.

"And this must be the luckiest man in the universe. The one the Devil Princess wants her hands on so badly." Tarant said, "I guess ol' Orga won't be getting her hands on this little weapon of mass destruction today!"

As Tarant made his declaration, one of his men noticed that he stepped in something funny. The man reached down and picked it up. It appeared to be skin of a small animal of some sort, as if whatever had this skin had shed it. While studying this, he then heard something breathing behind him. He turned around and saw it- a black creature with a smooth head, no eyes, and nasty looking jaws. The monster opened it's mouth to reveal another mouth inside that extended outward. He didn't have time to scream before the monster was on him.

Tarant and the other men heard that man's scream and turned around to see the monster tearing him apart. Tarant ordered his men to shoot at the thing, but with lightning speed it began to tear through all the men. Seina saw his chance for escape, and he grabbed Yui with one hand and held the little girl over his back with the other and ran for dear life past the struggle.

Having escaped Tarant's men, Yui brought Seina to the facility's ship hanger.

"Do you know how to pilot any of these?" Seina asked her with dim hope.

To his surprise, she answered in the affirmative. They quickly boarded the nearest ship, and Yui took the pilot's chair. While the Syndicate battled Tarant's pirates, Yui was able to fly the ship out of there without any trouble.

                                                                  * * *

"Damn it!"
Tarant kicked a nearby wall in frustration. While his men overtook the Syndicate facility, that boy had slipped away from him. It looked like the Devil Princess and her forces had gotten the better of Tarant again.

Tarant considered Seina's situation now. The poor little dumbass had no idea what he had just brought along with him.

                                                               END

[Zigra]

Interlude- The Priestess's Daughter

Kiriko opened her eyes. Before she could even ask herself "where am I", she became aware of thoughts within her mind. Thoughts that were not her own. It took a minute for it all to register, but she soon understood. I am Kiriko. I am Mizuki. Two are now one.

Kiriko now knew what happened. When she was carelessly tossed out into the airlessness of space, she had suffocated and was on the brink of death. The tree-ship Mizuki rescued her, but couldn't revive her by normal means. There was only one option- Mizuki had to assimilate with Kiriko and merge her own being to Kiriko's. In Mizuki's home universe, this had only been done once before, by the mother of the tree-ships with that universe's version of Princess Sasami.

It was an odd feeling for Kiriko. It was not two minds in one body she was experiencing. No, she and Mizuki were now of one single mind. The thoughts of one now belonged to to the other as well. As such, Kiriko now knew the full history of the other universe's Jurai as seen through the eyes of Mizuki. And there was one thing that struck her more than anything else. The face of a woman, one of the alternate Jurai's most prominent members of royalty. Kiriko recognized that face well.

"That's where I've seen her before!" she said to herself.

With the Kiriko-Mizuki mind in control, Mizuki's ship form was off. Kiriko now finally had an idea of what to look for, though she didn't know where to look. But, before she did any of that, she was going to settle the score with that Shinji kid....


                                                                  * * *



"C'mon kid, wake up! Please wake up!"

The voice finally registered in the girl's mind, and she weakly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a young man looking over her with intense concern. With that look of concern, there was a warmth in the man's face that almost made the girl smile. Until she felt it. An aura. The aura radiated great darkness, and it seemed to the girl like it would consume all around it with great misery and misfortune. The feeling made her instinctively recoil in horror and try to shuffle away from the man.

"What's wrong, little girl?" Seina asked the green-haired child that now seemed intent on getting away from him.

"She's not being very grateful to you, considering how you nearly got us killed trying to save her!" Yui scoffed.

"Considering what she's probably been through, I don't blame her for not trusting the first person she sees when she wakes up." Seina said, dismissing Yui's coldness.

He leaned in closer to the girl.

"Hey, kid, I'm not going to hurt you. I rescued you from the bad guys. You're safe now."

Something about the warmth in Seina's smile eased the girl's fears. She worked up a smile. Having gotten over her bout of fear, she realized what she must do.

"Come closer, brave man." she told Seina.

Seina was a bit confused, but did as she said. The girl put her hand to Seina's forehead. Seina wasn't sure what was going on, but the girl suddenly seemed even more at ease.

"There, I have suppressed your aura of misfortune." the girl said, "We are safe for the time being."
"Umm, thanks, I guess."

As Seina said that, neither he nor the little girl saw the scowl on Yui's face.

"Say, little girl, what is your name?" Seina asked.

"Neeju." she replied, "Neeju Na Melmas, daughter of the high priestess of planet Melmas."

                                                               * * *

After Neeju's introduction, Seina let the girl rest a bit before asking her more questions. He managed to find among the ship's supplies both a blanket for Neeju to wrap around herself, and something warm for her to drink.

"Tell me, young man...."
"You can call me Seina."

"Seina. Tell me, Seina, how did you come to be possessed by this aura of misfortune?" Neeju asked. "It does not seem like the sort of thing a normal human should have within them."

"Well, honestly, I don't know. I've had this problem since around age 8. I do wonder, though, if it had something to do with those old caves I use to explore when I was a kid. My friend, Tenchi, and I use to explore many of the caves behind his grandfather's shrine. It was said that some of these caves contained imprisioned evils of various sorts, from a red-haired demon, to a strange gem said to be from another realm."

Seina reflected a bit on that last example.

"Yeah, I remember when we explored that last cave. When me and Tenchi went inside, we found said gem with a whole bunch of protective charms on it. Though Tenchi begged me not to, I decided to touch the gem, just for fun. I don't know exactly what happened. I apparently blacked out, only to be awakened by Tenchi shortly afterwards. He insisted that we get out of the cave, and I agree, having had enough for that day. It seems like all sorts of bad luck has followed me around since that day, though I never made the connection until now."

"I see." Neeju said.

The girl stood up and looked Seina over.

"With my spiritual powers, it would be a simple task to exorcise this dark aura from you." Neeju explained.

Yui, who had been standing at the far wall listening to this exchange, gritted her teeth at those last words. It did not go unnoticed by Neeju.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Neeju asked the woman.

"I am a woman of science, of course! I don't believe in any of this supernatural garbage that you're spouting!" Yui snapped.

Neeju's eyes narrowed with suspicion, but for the moment she let it go and spoke to Seina again.

"Anyway, there is also another option. On Melmas, priestesses like my mother not only have the power to exorcise the forces of evil and darkness, but also to contain them and bound them to our will. Having learned some of these abilities myself, I believe it would be possible for me to teach you to do the same. Once you can control it, you may even be able to bend it to your will and use it as a weapon. What was once a source of misfortune for everyone around you can become a tool to battle evil."
With these words, Yui perked up a great deal, and once again this did not go unnoticed by Neeju. The girl cautiously gestured for Seina to follow her into the next room.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I'm very worried about that woman you're with, Seina. She seems to have some ulterior motive regarding your power, and I don't believe she is up to any good."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. Since our prison break, I haven't exactly been getting good vibes from her, either."

Seina looked back towards the other room with concern. What was really going on with this Yui Ikari?

                                                                  * * *



"Do you think it was a good idea to go straight to the Lord's palace with Mizuki possibly watching?" Shinji asked Amane.

"Do not question your goddess, Ikari!" she snapped.

Shinji did as he was told and turned his gaze at the ship that was their destination. It was an unusual ship by this galaxy's standards, and few in the galaxy would have been able to identify its origins. The bulk of it was vaguely saucer shaped, but at the heart of the ship was a pyramid that pierced the heart of the saucer. Overall, the ship was massive, dwarfing the skyscrapers Shinji had seen on some worlds.

However, what was most unusual about the ship was not its design, but something else about how it looked. The whole ship seemed like it was made out of something not of this universe. It just looked nothing like anything around it, not even the void of space. It was just like that monster that Amane had turned that pirate into back on Earth, and her awakened memories registered the ship as something "live-action" while her own universe was something "animated".

Amane's own ship proceeded to dock with the larger ship.

                                                         * * *

Amane and Shinji left their ship and walked out into the larger ship's docking bay. They were greeted by Amane's father, Aasu. The man was now like Amane had never seen him before. Instead of the fruity aristocrat clothing of her homeworld, Aasu wore long long golden robes which encompassed his entire body save for his head. He looked more like some sort of king or emperor than just another rich aristocrat.

On top of all that, he was surrounded by guards wearing golden armor and carrying staff weapons. The guards had a symbol of a solar disc on their foreheads. Jaffa warriors, Amane's new memories said.

As Amane and Shinji approached the group, Shinji did so with full confidence as if he was greeting an old friend. The Jaffa guards did not take kindly to this. Two of them moved in on him and used their staff weapons to hit Shinji in the leg joints, forcing him to his knees.

"Kneel before your god, maggot!" one of them shouted to Shinji.

On the other hand, the guards had no problem with Amane. She casually walked up to her father to greet him.

"Greetings, Father."

"I am pleased that your true self has awakened, my daughter." Aasu said, his voice deep and inhuman, "Tell me, is it done?"
"Yes, Father, I have taken care of Kiriko. We can begin the next phase of the plan."
"Very well. Follow me. I wish for you to observe this...."

                                                          * * *

Amane was led large room that reminded her of a studio. There were recording devices, like more advanced versions of what humans would call video cameras, that surrounded what appeared to be a throne. Everything was in preparation when she arrived.

Amane looked on in amusement as a familiar woman entered the and strolled up to the throne. Amane had seen that woman once before in a video recording. Orga Millenia. The Devil Princess.

The Devil Princess sat upon the throne and looked towards Aasu and Amane.

"Shall we begin?"

                                                                END

[Zigra]

Episode 8

While Yui took the controls of the ship, Seina and Neeju practice various meditation exercises to help Seina keep his bad luck aura under control. To Neeju's surprise, Seina was an extremely fast learner. There was an almost inhuman quality to it. What would have taken most people weeks to achieve Seina accomplished in just hours. Neeju wondered if the entity responsible for the bad luck aura had actually become a part of Seina's being, rather than something that had merely latched on to him.

While taking a break from the training, Seina took the opportunity to ask Neeju something about herself that had been on his mind since he first rescued her.
"Umm, Lady Neeju, I know this might seem like an awkward question, but why exactly did the Syndicate take you captive?"

Neeju's face went dark at Seina's question.

"Emm, I'm sorry I asked." he said, feeling like he had been an insensitive ass.

"No, it wasn't a bad question. It's just a......rather sordid tale. My birth mother, the high priestess, has some rather different tastes as far as what kind of lover she'll choose. She prefers women over men. And there is one particular woman that my mother fell in love with, a former Juraian noblewoman. My mother and the Juraian were able to use my mother's magic to conceive a child- me. However, there was one who was unhappy about this. Fatora, a princess of a small, but influential world called El Hazard, lusted after my birth mother for years only to be spurned by her. After my mother fell in love with the Juraian noblewoman and had me, Fatora tried to get revenge by various means, always failing. That is, until she made a pact with the Devil Princess. The Devil Princess agreed to have her Syndicate take me captive, and in exchange for my freedom my birth mother would have to marry Fatora."

"That's horrible!" Seina cried.

"Yes. But now that you have rescued me, we can work on bringing justice upon both Fatora and the Devil Princess, whoever she may be."

"You don't know who the Devil Princess is?" Seina asked.

"No. I never saw her in person. The only reason I even know why I was taken captive was because Fatora visited me in my cell one day to gloat."

"Well, it looks as if the Devil Princess has finally given up her identity." Seina said, "And, as we speak, we've set in motion a plan to take her down for good."


                                                             * * *



The cameras began rolling. The green-haired beauty looked into them with seeming confidence, never betraying what she truly felt inside.

"Greetings once again to the Galaxy Police." she said, "I, the great Devil Princess, would like to....."

"Reeoooww!!"

The Devil Princess and everybody else in the room looked down at the furry critter that scurried up to her feet. Amane gritted her teeth. With the awakening of her new memories, she had completely forgotten about Fuku's mission when the cabbit left with Seina, and now Fuku stood before them all in this room.

"We've finally found her!" Balta exclaimed as she saw everything through Fuku's eyes.

"Protect the Princess! Kill the little beast!" Amane shouted to the Jaffa guards.

Fuku hissed at the guards as they pointed their staff weapons at her. Before they could fire at the cabbit, Fuku's size began to change rapidly. She went from being a small cat-sized animal, to being the size of a human, and then a bear, and just kept going. Aasu and Amane knew it was time to save themselves, and they both fled the room.

As Fuku grew larger, the guards finally shot their weapons at her, but to no avail. At the sight of the creature, the Devil Princess ran to the other side of the room and huddled herself away. Fuku turned towards her, and as the giant cabbit approached her, the tears began to flow from the Princess's eyes.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I beg you!" the Princess cried.

Fuku was now big enough that she began to burst out from the room's walls and ceilings. Fuku then grabbed the screaming Devil Princess, tossed the woman into her mouth, and swallowed her. Fuku then transformed into her ship form and then burst out from the hull of Aasu's ship. Fuku didn't waste any time in opening fire on the ship with her weapons. In less than a moment, Aasu's ship burst into flames and exploded.

As Fuku left the site of the carnage, Aasu, Amane, and Shinji watched her fly away from their escape vessel. This was certainly an unfortunate turn of events for Orga Millenia's plans.

                                                                  * * *

As Fuku flew through the void of space, she sent a signal out to Kiriko that her mission had been accomplished. Fuku was concerned for a moment when she didn't get an immediate reply, but eventually Kiriko answered.

"Good work, Fuku! Now, meet me at these coordinates, and we'll have a talk with this so-called Devil Princess!"

Fuku traveled to the specified location. She was a bit surprised at the ship she saw, as it didn't look like any ship she recognized. But, when she hailed the ship, Kiriko responded and told her everything was alright, and to come aboard.

Fuku reverted to a gigantic version of her cabbit form when she came aboard Mizuki. She was greeted in a vast grassy field by Kiriko. Upon seeing Kiriko, the cabbit spat out the Devil Princess. The green-haired woman, still alive, shivered as she looked around in a panicked state.

"W....where am I?" the woman asked in extreme anxiety.

"Don't worry," Kiriko said reassuringly, "you are safe now, Seto Kamiki."

                                                               * * *



Kiriko allowed the green-haired woman to get a clean change of clothes and to get settled with a warm drink. While the woman was getting rested, Kiriko thought over the facts at hand. This woman was Seto Kamiki. Seto was a minor and somewhat obscure Juraian noblewoman who had been banished from Jurai for the "sin" of homosexuality, and had pretty much fallen off the radar after that.

Furthermore, once Kiriko realized the woman in the video the GP received was actually Seto, she also realized that the woman couldn't be the Devil Princess. The Devil Princess and her syndicate were infamous throughout the galaxy well before Seto's banishment.

"Now that you've taken me away, they might kill her." Seto said sadly.

"Kill who? What's going on here?" Kiriko asked as she sat down next to Seto.

"My daughter, Neeju." Seto replied, "It's a long story, but after my exile from Jurai, I fell in love with a high priestess of the planet Melmas. Using her magic, we were able to conceive a daughter, Neeju. Not too long ago, the Millenium Syndicate took Neeju captive after making a deal with a woman that my lover had spurned. I met with a representative of the Syndicate, a man whose human name is Aasu Kaunaq, and he made a deal with me. The deal was that I would appear in a series of videos to the Galaxy Police claiming that I was the Devil Princess. If I followed through on this, he would see to it that my daughter was freed."

Something about what Seto said perked Kiriko's curiosity.

"What did you mean when you said that it was his human name?" she asked the former noblewoman.

"That's where things get unusual. Aasu's body is being inhabited by a parasitic creature that is controlling his mind. The creature is called a goa'uld, and it goes by the name Aten. This creature hails from another universe. In its home universe, the goa'uld not only like to take human hosts, but they also conquer and enslave human civilizations and pose as the gods of the people the rule over. This particular goa'uld assumed the identity of a sun god named Aten. At some point, there was an uprising, and Aten took his remaining soldiers and followers and fled his home universe. He came to our universe, took Aasu Kaunaq as his new host, and has been working with both the Millenium Syndicate and with spies within the Galaxy Police to create a new powerbase in this universe."

"Wow, you know all this?" Kiriko asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Funny thing about this Aten fellow is that he's quite boastful. He can't help but brag about his history and broadcast his plans to everybody. If he didn't seem so scary in person, it would all be rather idiotic."

As Kiriko pondered this information, her ship aspect picked up a signal.

"Kiriko? Amane? Is anybody out there?"
Seina!

"Yes, Seina, I'm here!"
"Thank the gods! I'm glad to hear your voice, Kiriko! Listen, things didn't quite go as planned on my end. I've got two people here who I need to drop off with you, and we can discuss what to do next."
"Yes. Our end of the plan has taken a strange turn as well. Meet me at these coordinates and we'll talk."

                                                                         * * *

Seina's ship arrived at the location Kiriko specified. Like Fuku before him, it was a bit surprised at the unusual, vaguely Juraian-looking ship that greeted him. Then he got a signal from Kiriko telling him and the two people he came with to beam aboard.

When Seina, Yui, and Neeju beamed aboard Mizuki, they were surprised to find themselves in a vast field full of grass and flowers.

"Wow! The spiritual energy I'm sensing from this place is incredible!" Neeju said.

Then, the three of them saw something that scared the hell out of Seina, but had Neeju's eyes widen in excitement. Kiriko approached them, and she had Seto Kamiki by her side. Seina recognized that woman as the Devil Princess from the video, but Neeju recognized her as somebody else entirely.

"Mama!" Neeju cried as she ran towards Seto.

"My baby!" Seto said joyously as she ran to embrace her daughter.

As he watched the pair embrace, Seina scratched his head in confusion. Yui's eyes narrowed, but she remained silent.

"Come on, Seina. We have a lot to discuss." Kiriko said.

                                                                   * * *

While Seto and Neeju were given some time to be alone, Kiriko and Seina briefed each other on what transpired on each one's end of things during the mission. Seina was both amazed at the idea of being aboard a ship from another universe (though, for the time being, Kiriko decided not to tell him about her assimilation with the ship), and also more than a little heartbroken at the news of Amane's betrayal.

"So, Seina, tell me more about this Yui woman. She hasn't said a word since she came aboard."
"Her name is Yui Ikari. She's a scientist that was taken captive by the Millenium Syndicate, and her knowledge and expertise was used by them to create much of their weaponry and technology. Those creatures we encountered on that ice world were clones of her, as a matter of fact. I'm hoping that she will use her knowledge to help us combat the Syndicate."
After Seina gave this explanation, Kiriko looked towards Yui, who was a good distance away from them using a tricorder-like device to scan her surroundings. Kiriko wondered if this woman could really help them that much.

Then, she sensed it. Something was coming out of hyperspace at their location. Through Mizuki's eyes, Kiriko saw a fleet of pyramid-like ships coming dropping out of hyperjump and surrounding Mizuki-fune.

"Looks like they've found us!" Kiriko announced to Seina.

The lead ship hailed them. Kiriko accepted the transmission. The demonic voice of Aten flooded Mizuki.

"Heathen garbage! You will pay for insulting a god!"

As they all heard this, everybody aboard Mizuki was suddenly greatly concerned. Everybody except Kiriko.

"This is going to be fun!" Kiriko said as she prepared her Mizuki side for combat.

                                                     END

[Zigra]

Episode 9

The wreckage was strewn out for over a mile. At the heart of it all, Mizuki-fune stood triumphant and unharmed.

Aboard the ship, Kiriko and Seina looked over one of their captives. Amane glared at them defiantly through the makeshift cell the ship's consciousness created for her.

"What happened to her?" Seina asked in extreme confusion.

"I don't know, Seina. When we interrogated that Shinji creep, Amane suddenly turned on me." Kiriko explained, "It's like she's a completely different person now."

"It's because of the parasite."

Seina and Kiriko turned to Neeju standing behind them.

"I can sense it even from here." Neeju began to explain, "Her father conceived her when the parasite was within him, and she has the creature's DNA within her. The DNA comes with the creature's memories, which have now taken over your friend."
"Genetic memory." Kiriko said.

"Yes, I believe that is what science would call it." Neeju replied.

"So, can we help her?" Seina asked with increasing concern.

"I believe we can." Neeju answered, "With both my own spiritual powers and the power from Kiriko and this tree-ship, I can perform a ritual that may be able to purge the parasite's influence from your friend's mind. It would be like an exorcism."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Kiriko replied.

                                                    * * *

It was an insult! Him, a god, being treated to such an indignity!

Aten, within his host Aasu Kaunaq, sat within a strange cell made from tree roots that had grown out of the ground beneath him. Somehow, his great power was not good enough, and that strange extra-universal ship overpowered his entire fleet in seconds. His entire jaffa army was lost, and now only he and his daughter remained, both of them being lowered to the level of prisoners.

As the would-be god gritted his teeth in rage, a figure approached the cell. Aten looked up and his eyes widened. Very rarely did he feel fear, but looking upon the figure that stood before him now, he felt more fear than he ever had in his thousands of years of life.

"The Devil Princess is most displeased with you, Parasite." the figure said, "Your jaffa lackeys made up a good portion of her organization. Now that you have squandered all of their lives in your little power trip, you've set back her plans more than a little. She is not happy with this."

The figure pulled out a glowing orb, and the roots that made up the cell bars rotted away into nothing, giving the figure access. Aten tried to scurry away, but there was nowhere for him to go. The figure pulled out a small blade, similar to a scalpled.

"Now, 'god', allow me to show you true suffering."

                                                                   * * *


The darkness never seemed to end. Amane could do nothing but watch helplessly as another entity controlled her body. This entity was her, and yet not her at the same time. It was a side of her that she had never known before, and now it controlled her entirely.

"Amane, can you hear me?"

Was that Kiriko's voice?

Amane found herself in a white void. Sure enough, she saw a familiar individual standing before her in this void. It was Kiriko, dressed up in Juraian royal garb.

"Wh....where are we? What's going on?" Amane asked desperately.

"We are inside your mind." Kiriko answered, "With the help of a young priestess named Neeju, I was able to join my mind with yours. I'm here to free you from the goa'uld influence that is controlling you."

Amane turned away.

"I....don't deserve to be saved. Especially by you, Kiriko."

"What do you mean?"
"You don't know this, Kiriko, but I....took Seina from you. He and I slept together, and I didn't feel any remorse for it, nor did I think about how you would feel. I was a horrible person before this....creature took over, and you should have just killed me instead of trying to save me!"

Kiriko considered Amane's words.

"Amane, you don't deserve death over what is going on between you and Seina, even if it hurts me a little. I don't own Seina, nor do I have the right to govern who he chooses. Besides, thanks to Mizuki, I realize now that my destiny was never with Seina to begin with. So, I intend to save you, whether you like it or not!"

Before Amane could respond, a high pitched screech, like that of an animal, sounded off all around them.

"I wondered when that would show up." Kiriko muttered.

                                                           * * *



Shinji hung his head low in his cell. Even though part of him knew the "I'm a sad and depressed little boy" act won't work on his captors at this point, he did it anyway out of force of habit.

"My baby boy." came a voice from outside the cell.

Shinji knew that voice well. He looked up at the figure who stood before him. She was a beautiful to him as the last time he saw her. Maybe even more so. That blood that covered her clothing certainly was a massive turn on to him.

The figure pulled out a glowing orb, and the tree roots that made up the cell bars rotted away, allowing her access.

"Butchering a subordinate was so thrilling, Shinji! It makes me so hot! Take me, take me now!"

The figure bent over, showing her backside to Shinji. Grinning sadistically, he was more than obliged to hop onto her and put it in.

                                                              * * *

In the physical world, the goa'uld were small parasites, about a foot long. If not for their ability to attached themselves to the brains of larger organisms and control the said organisms, they'd be harmless pests at worst. But, the creature that confronted Amane and Kiriko in the world of Amane's mind was no insignificant worm.

The monster was big enough to go toe-to-toe with some of the largest dinosaurs. Its appearance was like a cross between a snake and a lamprey. A large frill projected from its back, and a pair of fork-like prongs jutted out from its mouth.

As Amane looked on, stunned at the sight, Kiriko showed no fear. Kiriko understood that what came next was to be a battle of willpower, rather than a physical battle, and she quickly explained that to Amane. Amane then decided to strengthen her own resolve.

The goa'uld fired an energy beam from its mouth. The beam didn't connect. It was stopped in midair, and dissipated shortly afterwards. The monster reared its head back in shock. Amane and Kiriko then joined hands. In Amane's free hand, an energy blade appeared, while in Kiriko's free hand, a light hawk sword appeared. Together, they charged at the beast. The goa'uld was helpless as the two women slashed into it. With a final scream, the monster vanished into nothing.

"Well, that was easy." Amane said, still exhilarated.

The world around them began to dissolve.

                                                              * * *

Amane awoke to find Seina, Kiriko, and Neeju standing over her smiling. The goa'uld memories and influence had been completely purged from her mind.

Before Amane could say anything, and before the others could celebrate, Kiriko suddenly had a look of horror on her face.

"Oh. My. God."

                                                             * * *

"FATHER!!!!"

Amane ran screaming towards the bloody corpse of Aasu Kaunaq. Seina, Kiriko, Neeju, Seto, and even Fuku looked on in stunned silence. Kiriko felt responsible. While she and Mizuki's minds delved into Amane's mind, Mizuki's consciousness was distracted from the goings on in her ship form. In that time, Amane's father had been horribly murdered.

As Seina pulled a still screaming Amane away from the corpse and embraced her, Kiriko looked it over. Aasu's skull had been split open. The goa'uld parasite that had been attached to his brain had been removed, apparently quite violently, killing Aasu in the process.

And Kiriko believed she knew who was responsible. Shinji Ikari had escaped from his cell, and he and his apparent rescuer were approaching the area where Kiriko and the others now stood.

They weren't the only things approaching. A large ship just pulled out of hyperspace and was intercepting Mizuki-fune. It probably wasn't a coincidence.

"Isn't this a touching scene?" a female voice said to all of them. Kiriko knew the person was there before she even arrived at the scene.

They all looked to see Yui Ikari, with Shinji standing behind her, looking upon them. Her clothes were covered in blood, and it wasn't hard to deduce that the blood belonged to Aasu.

"Now that I have you all where I want you, the real fun can begin." Yui announced.

                                                                  END

[Zigra]

Episode 10

"Yu...Yui, what's going on? Did you kill Amane's father?" Seina eeped with shock.

Without immediately saying anything, Yui pulled something out from a slip in her outfit. Kiriko and Amane recognized it immediately. That snake-lamprey creature they had both fought within Amane's mind. The goa'uld Aten. Yui coldly threw the parasite to the ground and smashed it to death with her foot while Shinji giggled.

"Pathetic little worm." Yui snapped, "In the end, his service was far more trouble than it was worth."

The Mizuki side of Kiriko viewed the approaching space vessel. It was a rather odd ship. Metallic silver, it was about 200 meters in length with a wingspan of 130 meters. The only thing Kiriko could think of to describe it's shape was that it looked like a metal jock strap cup. Kiriko-Mizuki detected an energy pattern from the ship that was consistent with a teleportation device.

Sure enough, three figures appeared before the group via teleportation. Seina knew all three. Two of them were the Rei, and the third one was Tarant Shank. Bloody and bruised, it was apparent that Tarant was the captive of the Reis, even before they threw him to his knees.

"Well well well, if it ain't my old childhood pal. I hope my mother's clones didn't rough you up too much." Shinji said with a sadistic chuckle.

"Explain yourself, Yui! What the hell is going on here?" Seina yelled.

"Seina, you stupid dipshit. You still don't get it, do you?" Tarant said.

After coughing up a bit of blood, Tarant looked up at Yui and sneered.

"Yeah, that's right, bitch, I know the truth! I've known it since childhood, ever since you let me get caught up in your son's crimes. Nobody would believe me when I told them. Yui Ikari. That was the name you assumed in public, so you could move about freely. But, it was never your real name."
Tarant paused a bit, and then continued on when it seemed that nobody understood what he was talking about.

"Everybody, look upon the face of Orga Millenia, the true Devil Princess!"

The whole group gasped. Seto held Neeju in a protective embrace. Fuku hissed. Seina and Amane powered up their weapons, and Kiriko manifested a Light Hawk Sword. The truth revealed, Orga smiled pleasantly.

"I won't give you my whole life story," Orga started in while everybody else couldn't help but listen, "but since I was a little girl I believed that the power wielded by the Juraians was not as absolute as they told us it was. I knew there had to be something greater, and I wanted such power for myself.

"In my adulthood, I became adept at various forms of science and archeology. Using the alias of Yui Ikari and gaining the financial support of various criminal organizations, I searched the galaxy for evidence of the theorized ancient civilization that was believed to have seeded the galaxy with human life. I called these ancients the Millenians, and I did indeed find overwhelming evidence of their existence.

"I also discovered that the Millenians were masters at genetic engineering and manipulation, using a type of genetic code I call Organizer G1. Using this genetic code, I created my own super soldiers, the Rei, and with their power I took over the criminal underworld of the galaxy, and even got my tendrils into the GP itself, all while keeping my true identity hidden behind the mask of Yui Ikari.

"I even discovered three of this ancient civilization's creations kept away in suspended animation and awoke two of them. You know them as Ryoko and Nagi. The third one, whom you call Balta, was awakened by you guys."

"These ancient bio-weapons proved to be beyond my control, so I looked inward at my continuing attempts to create more super soldiers. During a sham marriage to a man whom I've since disposed of, I conceived a son, Shinji, who you see standing next to me. For years I tried to condition him to be a violent sociopath, exposing him to all manners of abuse, both violent and sexual."
"Yeah, I remember that, Mom. That was back when I still had the ability to cry." Shinji chuckled.

"Unfortunately, before I could finish my experiments with Shinji, he got caught up in a bit of...mischief...with this worthless pile of garbage Tarant and was taken from me. But now, my beloved baby boy has been reunited with me, and, despite the bumbling of that alien parasite, my plans can now be set in motion!"

Reis, maybe hundreds of them. And standing before them was a bizaree mech, perhaps 40 meters in height. Thin and vaguely humanoid, the mech looked unnerving with it's large jaw and deadly teeth, and it's unusual unicorn-like horn.

"Behold, another relic of the Millenian civilization- Eva 01!" Orga announced, "And, after all these years of proper conditioning, there is only one special man who can pilot it!"

Shinji had already felt himself drawn to the Eva even before his mother made her announcement. He quietly strolled up to the mech, and as he approached it, the Eva's head opened up. An unseen force lifted Shinji from the ground. He floated up to the opening in the Eva, and soon found himself inside the mech's cockpit before the opening closed around him.

The Reis began to surround the group. Kiriko, Amane, and Seina held their respective weapons at ready while Seto held Neeju even tighter.

"Now that I have discovered powers greater than Jurai's, the Reis shall proceed to suck that power dry from the both of you, Seina Yamada and Kiriko Masaki!" Orga exclaimed.

As one of the Reis approached Seina, he was prepared to shoot at it. But he relented. Something inside him told him to let the Rei take some of his power. He lowered his weapon and allowed the Rei to come to him.

"Seina, what are you doing?!" Kiriko and Amane cried in unison. Neeju just smiled slyly as she understood what he was doing.

As the Rei moved in, it shot out proboscis similar to that of a mosquito from its mouth. Seina closed his eyes as the proboscis pierced his chest. He could feel the energy from his bad luck aura beginning to be drawn out. The Rei was only able to take a little bit of it before the reaction Seina hoped for occurred.

The Rei suddenly stopped the energy drain. It pulled the proboscis from Seina's body and a pained expression appeared on its face. It clasped the sides of its head and gave out an inhuman screech. The other Reis halted their attack and gazed at their commrade.

With a mix of horror and fascination, Seina and the group watched as the stricken Rei slowly began to melt into a pool of thick grey-white liquid, screaming the whole way. The pool of liquid began to move as if it had a life of its own. The liquid lurched towards another Rei. Having no survival instinct, the other Rei simply stared as the pool rose up and lashed out towards it. Soon, the second Rei was devoured by the pool, causing the pool to grow larger. Then the pool did the same to another Rei, growing even larger. And another. And another. Seina's group watched as one by one the Reis were all devoured by the pool until the pool grew in size to that of a small lake.

Orga gritted her teeth at what happened to her minions. She was about to order her son to attack, but then she noticed something. The newly formed lake was still moving. Towards her. Panicking, she turned to run. She wasn't fast enough. She felt the liquid grab her ankle and she was quickly pulled to the ground. She could feel a mud-like sensation moving up her entire body. She let out a scream before the liquid completely enveloped her head. Soon, her body was completely dissolved and joined with the pool.

"Oh, wow." Shinji said as he witnessed the whole thing, "I guess I won't have to spend any money on a Mother's Day gift."

Just when everybody thought the Devil Princess had met her final doom, something odd happened. Her screams didn't stop. They just grew louder, echoing for miles. They all realized that the pool itself was screaming, screaming with Orga's voice.

The liquid mass began to arch up. It was reforming itself, taking a new shape. It began to appear as something more distinct, and then it solidified. Seina and the group gasped in shock at what appeared before them. The liquid mass was no longer just a shapeless mass. Standing 60 meters tall, the grey bipedal creature had a hunched, protruding back, a pair of oversized claws, and a mostly feature-less head that jutted out the front of its body with dagger-like teeth protruding from its gigantic mouth. Seina noted that the beast looked kinda like the Rancor from "Return of the Jedi", only lamer.

Orga blinked in wonderment. At first she didn't understand what had just happened to her. Then, moving her head as best as she could (her new head wasn't very flexable), she looked over her hands and what she could see of her body. The realization that she had become a monster finally set in.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" the former Devil Princess screamed, her scream echoing throughout Mizuki's inner world.

                                                                        * * *


Kiriko/Mizuki was too focused on the newly created monster to pay attention to the ship that had just pulled out of hyperspace. Creating a new monster was not the only way that Seina's bad luck aura had done. It had also brought new company.

"Where the fuck am I now?!"

                                                              END

[Zigra]

Episode 11 part 1

"SSSEEEEEIIIIINNNNNAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the monster roared in fury.

The group watched as the misshapen beastly form of Orga lurched towards them.

"Well, genius, what are we gonna do now?!" Tarant chided Seina while slowly backing away.

Without voicing an answer, Kiriko had a solution. Being the heart and soul of Mizuki, Kiriko knew she could simply eject Orga from the ship. As she prepared to do so, she discovered that somebody else had the same thought. She felt something scoop her up and lift her into the air. She was now in the hands of Eva-01.

"Now now now, we can't have you interfering." the voice of Shinji sounded from the humanoid machine, "Try to do anything to Mom, and I'll squash you like a pesky little Jangirian mosquito."

Inside Eva-01's cockpit, Shinji mused over the unfolding situation. Of course, he wasn't really holding Kiriko back to help his mother. He just wanted to watch how Seina and the group dealt with the new monstrous Orga for entertainment.

On the ground, Seina bit his lip over Kiriko's capture. He knew what to do to help her, but something else would have to distract Orga. And that something was taking its time showing up. He would have to try something different.

"Tarant, take the girls and run to the nearby forest!" Seina instructed

"But....."

"Just hurry!" Seina interrupted Tarant, "I'm the one Orga is after! Let her chase after me while you get the others to safety!"

Tarant nodded. He had only a moment to ponder the irony of getting to play the hero for once before he did as Seina told him.

As Tarant led the others away, Seina grabbed a hold of Fuku and whispered in the cabbit's ear. Fuku nodded at Seina's instructions. Seina then threw her into the air. Fuku hurdled herself intently towards Orga's gaping maw, and flew inside. Orga paused in curiosity for a moment, but then returned her gaze to Yamada.

Then it happened. Orga lowered her head, appearing to look downwards. The monster began to let out a painful groan as her chest began to quickly expand. At last, Orga's chest burst open in a great explosion of flesh chunks and body fluids. Flying out from the monster's gaping wound was the gigantic, still growing form of a mechanized Fuku.

As Orga collapsed behind her, Mecha Fuku touched ground and stood upright triumphantly. The robotic cabbit stood a full 40 meters in height, just as tall as Eva-01. Seina was soon teleported aboard Fuku's cockpit and was now prepared for combat.

"Alright, Fuku, let's rescue Kiriko!"

Mecha Fuku approached Eva-O1 ready to tear it apart, but something was wrong. Eva-01 stood completely still, as if Shinji was unfazed by the impending assault. Then, Seina saw that Kiriko was flailing around in Eva-01's hand in a panic.

"Seina! Behind you!" is what Seina made out by reading her lips.

Mecha Fuku turned her head around. Both she and Seina nearly jumped out of their skin in shock. Orga was getting back up. The wound in her chest was quickly closing. Apparently, the monster had regenerative abilities, and rather good ones at that.

Fully, healed, Orga faced Mecha Fuku. A gaping hole in the monster's left shoulder that Seina hadn't noticed before began to light up. Seina barely got out an "oh shit!" as a beam of energy shot out from Orga's shoulder and hit Fuku. The mecha cabbit was sent flying and landed on her back. Defying all known physics, the lumbering form of Orga lept like a frog and landed on top of Fuku. The monster's gargantuan claws slowly and methodically pulled off Mecha Fuku's limbs like a sadistic child pulling the wings off of a helpless fly.
  Eventually, Fuku couldn't take it anymore, and what was left of Mecha Fuku vanished leaving Seina and an unconscious Fuku in its place. As Seina regained his senses, he found something slimey wrap around his body and lift him from the ground. He nearly threw up when he realized that the thing that had a hold of him was coming from Orga's mouth. The monster was carrying Seina with her tongue.

Seina struggled against the tongue's grip, but he began to feel weak. He saw energy flowing through the tongue back to Orga's body. Not only was she holding Seina, but she was draining him of his energy, including his bad luck aura. If he didn't do something fast, that control over bad luck would soon be her's, and the gods only knew what horrible things she would do with that power.

With what Seina had left of his aura, he tried once more to reach out to that force that he tried to call upon earlier. Trying to use his power while it was slowly being drained from him nearly made him lose consciousness.

A whining sound was heard. It was enough to draw Orga's attention away from siphoning Seina's power. She looked up, and her eyes widened to see something speeding towards her from the air. Before she could react, the object crashed into her, causing a large explosion upon impact. This caused Orga to release Seina from her grip, and the boy fell to the ground.

"Fuck! That was a shitty landing! Now where the hell am I?!"

Seina knew that voice, and also knew that his summoning attempt finally worked. Weakly, he looked at the small crater where Orga now lay. Standing upon the monster was the Drakciimerae creature that had appeared in this universe with Mizuki days ago. As the reptilian creature, which stood on top of Orga, surveyed its surroundings, Orga then stirred. The Drak, realizing that he was standing upon something alive, took to flight and landing on the outside of the crater. Orga rose up and glared down at the Drak.

"Well, ain't this some shit?" the Drak said as he realized the monster before him was very angry at him.

Seina realized what he had to do, with the last of his strength, he put his aura to work. The Drak's body began to glow, much to the reptile's confusion. His clothing burned away to nothing. He began to grow in size. As his size quickly increased, he found himself lowering his hands to the ground until he was on all fours. The hands and arms became legs and feet. He looked to his sides. The two heads that were fused into his shoulders, stillborn conjoined brothers, began to grow out. He soon found that he now had three heads.

When the transformation was complete, Orga stepped back in surprise and caution. The quadrapedal, triple-headed dragon stood over 100 meters in height. Before blackness overtook him, Seina admired his work.
The monster Seina would call Keizer Ghidorah had been born.

To be continued

[Zigra]

Episode 11 part 2

As the dragon loomed over Orga, he looked down over its newly formed body.
"ALRIGHT!!!" Keizer Ghidorah roared, "THIS NEW BODY IS SO COOL AND BADA..."
Ghidorah's left head fell off.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Ghidorah said as his other two heads looked at the empty space where its left head once was, "AM I REALLY BEING HELD TOGETHER BY DUCT TAPE?!"
Orga cackled at the dragon's humiliation and leapt towards it. Ghidorah tried to fly upwards to dodge her, but his right wing suddenly fell off, causing the dragon to come crashing to the ground. Orga landed on the dragon and began to pummel him.

                                                                     * * *

"Huh, looks like Seina's little creation isn't faring too well." Tarant said with a smirk as he and the others watched the beatdown from a distance.
"Yeah, but at least those monsters are distracted. Now we have to find a way to save Seina and Kiriko." Amane said.
They all paused for a moment.
"Any ideas of how we're gonna get Kiriko away from that robot-thing?" Amane then asked.
"I'll go. Alone." Tarant announced.
They all looked at him in shock.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you're all thinking." he said, "But I've got a bit of a score to settle with the asshole piloting that robot, and I don't think Seina would appreciate you gals getting yourselves in danger. So, I'll go try and help Seina and his gal pal myself."
The girls remained silent as Tarant strode off.
"Now, if only I had some sort of plan." he muttered to himself.

                                                             * * *

From the cockpit of Eva-01, Shinji watched the monstrosity that had once been his mother tear apart that lame dragon monster.
"Mom sure seems to be enjoying herself." he quipped.
Then, he caught sight of a lone figure approaching Eva-01. Tarant.
"Heya, Shinji! How's it goin'? Say, you know what? That young lady you've got captive there looks mighty fine. Kinda like that Asuka girl from way back in the day. Remember her? Yeah, so I was thinking, how about you come out of there, and we can gang bang the hell out of this chick?"
Shinji started breathing heavily. Ever since he had gotten here, he had wanted to rape the shit out of all of Seina's women. And now that Tarant had suggested it, he couldn't refuse the offer. Sure, the logic side of his brain knew it was some sort of trap, but in the end a sociopath can't control his base urges.
Eva-01 set Kiriko down. She wasted no time. The moment she was free, Kiriko had Mizuki call forth vines from the ground below the Eva. It didn't take long for the vines to pull the Eva to the ground, rendering it helpless. 
As the machine's head hit the ground, it opened up and Shinji came tumbling out. Tarant walked up to the Ikari boy and gave him a swift kick in the gut. It felt good for him to get to do that after all these years. However, Shinji wouldn't stop giggling.
"Tee hee! You jackasses didn't think I'd be prepared if this was a trap?"
Tarant and Kiriko then took notice of a sound coming from the Eva's cockpit.
"A self-destruct mechanism. Of course everything with an engine has to have one!" Tarant growled.
As Kiriko was prepared to run for it, she saw Tarant beginning to climb into the Eva's cockpit.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a near-yell.
"Shinji isn't the only piece of shit that I've got a score to settle with." he answered, "And I've got an idea on how to do it."
'I just hope my piloting skills will help me drive this thing.' he thought to himself.

                                                               * * *

Orga was nearly finished with Keizer Ghidorah. The dragon wouldn't hold on to life much longer. Before she could finish the job, however, she heard a whining noise, the sound of something coming towards her at top speed. She looked up and saw Eva-01 flying towards her.
Before she could react, the Eva grabbed a hold of her. Inside the Eva's cockpit, Tarant smiled as everything was going as he had planned. Now, he just had to eject himself and....
Orga's massive mouth expanded even wider, and soon began to swallow Eva-01. Tarant was trapped.
"Looks like I'm not going anywhere after all. Oh well, at least this bitch will go down with me." he said.
As Orga gobbled the Eva down, he barely had enough time to register the intense heat surging from the robot before......
Outside, everybody watched as a massive fireball exploded from within Orga's monstrous body. When the smoke cleared, they saw that the monster's body no longer had a head, and then the mammoth body of Orga went limp and fell over.

                                                                  * * *

"Wake up, Seina."
The soft voice of Kiriko registered in Seina's mind. Slowly, he came back to the world and his eyes opened. He was greeted by the sight of Kiriko, Amane, Neeju, Seto and Fuku.
"Is...is it over? Is the Devil Princess gone?" Seina asked weakly.
"Yes, Seina." Amane answered, "Thanks to Tarant, that horrible woman is dea...."
"I'm what now?"
As soon as they heard the voice, a massive shadow loomed over them all. They all looked up to see a grotesque sight. A massive blob of grey slime, what remained of Orga's monster body, slithered up to them. Attached to the top of the blob was the upper torso, arms and head of Orga's original human body.
"You stupid little fools!" she sneered, "Did you really think that cliche' act of heroism would finish me off? I...."
A shot of yellow lightning streaked out and struck Orga's head. The Devil Princess's head exploded in a bloody mess. The group watched as the remainder of Orga's body and the blob-mass it was attached to slowly dried up and crumbled into sand. The Devil Princess's reign over the galaxy had come to an end.
Seina smiled. He then looked over at the latest result of his luck manipulation. A portal had opened up, and the last of a trio of Drakciimerae warriors stepped through it. The leader of the trio stood taller than the other two and had a pair of massive wings, while the other two were wingless. The group cautiously approached them.
"Umm, thanks, you guys. You just saved our butts." Amane said to them.
"Oh, we saved somebody? I just felt like killing something." Siime said, "Now, where the hell is our little fugitive."
The three Draks quickly caught sight of what remained of Keizer Ghidorah. The dragon was still alive, but was a complete mess. He had only one head left, was missing several limbs and was lying in a pool of his own blood. All the dragon could do was whimper as the three Draks approached him.
"Ohhh, that doesn't look good." Siime said as he looked the former Drak over, "Well, sorry, but we're gonna have to put ya to sleep, Phil."
Siime then nodded at his two comrades who raised the firearms they were carrying. Soon, it was over, and Keizer Ghidorah was no more. And, with that, the three Draks turned and disappeared through the portal they had come from, without so much as a word to Seina and the girls.
Kiriko then looked over at Shinji. She had the Ikari boy tied down with vines.
"What do we do with him?" she asked, directing everybody's attention towards the boy.
"I don't know." Amane replied, "It would be so simple to hand him over to the Galaxy Police. But, I feel kinda bad for him. He's only the way he is because of what his mother did to him, and the GP isn't exactly good at rehabilitating criminals."
"I have an idea." Neeju chimed in, "There is a place, a horrible place, that few would wish to go to. And yet, I can imagine this boy enjoying it very much."
Neeju whispered something into Seina's ear, and Seina smiled. Using his power to its full extent, Seina caused a tiny dimensional rift to open up, and Shinji was gone.

                                                                     * * *

Balta looked out the window with high anticipation as Mizuki arrived at the GP station. After the ship docked, Balta went to greet her friends. As they all stepped out, Balta ran and gave Seina a big glomp.
"Oh, Mommy, I missed you so much!" she cried.
She then gave Amane a hug.
"And I missed you, too, Daddy!"
Seina wasn't sure who was more annoyed by that, Amane or Kiriko. Whatever the case, Seina had something to take care of. He quietly walked away from the group.
"Where are you going, Seina?" Amane asked.
"To see L'sar." he answered, "He and I have something to talk about....."

                                                         * * *

Somewhere in a universe different from Seina's own, a boy was having a grand old time.
"Uhhnnn uhhnnn"
Shinji Ikari couldn't help himself. He had come to see his comrade, Asuka Langely, in the hospital. The girl had been lying comatose, and Shinji had tried to talk to her. When she wouldn't answer, he shook her, and hospital gown had come undone. At the sight of her breasts, Shinji did what comes naturally to a boy with his mindset- he masturbated over her.
As he continued jerking his bird, he didn't notice somebody come up behind him. Then felt somebody's arms wrap around him from behind.
"And I thought I was the lowest." came a troublingly familiar voice from behind him.
Shinji turned his head and saw something that left him speechless. He saw his own face looking back at him.
"You're a handsome devil." said the second Shinji, "I think I've already taken a liking to you. And I see that you are already in the mood."
Before Shinji I could react, Shinji II quickly shoved a gag in his mouth to stifle any cry that he might make. Shinji II then wrestled Shinji I to the ground. Shinji I struggled to free himself from his doppleganger's grip, but to no avail.
Shinji I then panicked as he found his pants being pulled down and heard the sound of a fly unzipping behind him. But, as much as he tried to scream and cry, the gag in his mouth prevented him from making any sounds that could be heard outside the room.
"God, I love myself!" Shinji II said as he thrust his manhood inward.
Over on the bed, the comatose Asuka smiled lightly, as if lost in a pleasant dream.




 

[Zigra]

Finale

Seina reflected on all that had come to pass in the last few months since the defeat of the Devil Princess. With Orga and her cohort, Aten, both dead, Seina was able to use his luck manipulation to uncover a whole web of intrigue woven by the Millenium Syndicate that spanned much of the known galaxy.
It began with the Galaxy Police itself. It turned out that the Syndicate had its tendrils deep within the GP for many years. It turned out that not only did Orga herself sponsor Kagato's rise to power on Jurai, but the Syndicate's influences within the Galaxy Police were why the GP supported Kagato so unquestioningly.
It also turned out that after Kagato's fall at the hands of Tenchi and his friends, and the subsequent resignation of the GP's then-Director, the new Director, L'sar, tried to expose the Syndicate's involvement in the GP. However, before he could do so, Aten had L'sar's family taken captive and forced him to cooperate with the Syndicate. With Aten's death, and with help from Amane (who still had some of the memories of when she transformed into Aten's cohort), L'sar's family was rescued, and the long process of purging the Syndicate's influences from the GP began.
Slowly, the newly reformed Galaxy Police began to take down the Syndicate. Seina was amazed at just how diverse the Syndicate was in terms of crime operations. You had serious criminals in the organizations, such as a young man named Tomoki Sakurai who ran a sex slave operation, or the cat woman Sanada who transformed innocent young women into cat girl slaves for the Syndicate. You had more petty criminals like the Tendo sisters, Akane and Nabiki, who ran an operation where Akane would get herself married to influential men, and then have her sister seduce them so she could collect boundless riches in divorce settlements. You had would-be tyrants like Lelouch Lamperouge, a man who tried to get the Syndicate's aid to assassinate his ruler father so he could take over as king on his world. And then you had more insidious criminals, like the dollmaker Rozen, who used his demonic living doll, Souseiseki, to get close to the children of families targeted by the Syndicate, after which Souseiseki would take those children captive or murder them (depending on what the Syndicate's intentions for the family were). One by one, the GP took these criminals down, and the Millenium Syndicate began to fall to pieces.
Then, of course, there were more powerful allies of the Syndicate that were more difficult to touch. Princess Fatora of El Hazard, the woman responsible for taking Neeju hostage and having the Syndicate force Seto to pose as the Devil Princess, was far too powerful and influential on her homeworld for the Galaxy Police to successfully touch. But, this was no problem for Seina. Seina visited El Hazard, and by some strange coincidence of luck an uprising of El Hazard's people suddenly sprang up which quickly deposed Fatora and her right hand woman, the fire priestess Shayla Shayla (who had been known for bloody inquisitions upon "heathen" peoples). The two of them would get to know each other quite well in a jail cell (much to the heterosexual Shayla's distress, it was said) as the new government of El Hazard prepared for their executions.
Seina smiled as he fondly remembered the moment that Seto and Neeju were reunited with Neeju's birth mother on Melmas. And that subject of family brought him back to the present. He was still anxious as he looked around at the friends and family who were gathered in the waiting room. His parents. His best friend, Tenchi, and Tenchi's three wives, Ryoko, Aeka, and Haruna. Balta (whom Seina had adopted as his own daughter) and Fuku. Seto, Neeju, and Neeju's birth mother, Patima. They had all come to support Seina on this important day.
There was only one missing. Kiriko. Shortly after the Devil Princess's fall, Kiriko had to leave the group. It seemed that the tree-ship Mizuki had to return to its home universe, and because Kiriko was assimilated to it, she wanted to leave along with the ship to explore this other universe and meet "the other me" (as she put it). Seina suspected that there was another reason Kiriko wished to leave, and it had to do with why everybody was gathered here today. That was unfortunate. Seina missed his old friend, and hoped she was doing well in the other universe.
But now, there were much happier thoughts going through Seina's mind. Seina's life was about to change forever. He was going to be a dad. In another room, Amane, the new love of his life, was about to give birth to the child they conceived on their first night of intimacy together. Seina couldn't contain his happiness, nor his nervousness.
Then, the feelings of joy and anticipation in the room were broken by a shrill scream. A nurse in a blue apron burst into the room. She was covered with blood and had the most haunted look.
"God! I can't unsee it!" she cried loudly. "Somebody, please kill me!!!!"
Immediately, the woman ran for the GP pistol that Seina carried with him. He didn't have enough time to react before she pulled it away from him and put it to her head. The others in the room ran towards her and tried to stop her. But it was too late. A shot rang out, and the nurse fell lifeless to the floor, blood pouring from the hole in her head like water from a faucet.
"My god, Amane!" Seina cried. "What happened to her and my child!" The young GP officer ran from the waiting room across the maternity ward.
   
                                                                    * * *
Seina burst into the delivery room. He looked around and saw the doctor and nurses clinging to the far walls in utter terror. Then, he saw her. Amane's lifeless body. Her cold, dead eyes staring off into nothing in both horror and shock. The lower part of her body was even more grotesque. Blood poured out from her nether regions like a river, as if something exploded out from her body.
Seina slowly looked down at the object of horror in the room. He nearly vomited. He quickly understood what had happened. When he conceived his child with Amane, he had not yet learned to control his bad luck aura. He now gazed at the results of conceiving a child under the shadow of that aura. The abomination that slid across the floor was the most vile thing Seina had ever witnessed. A massive blob of flesh and fat that oozed across the floor like a puddle of living jelly. Even worse was the head. Ears that were inhumanely oversized. And the face. God, the face! The massive head contained a face that was grotesquely tiny. The thing was too profoundly hideous to even be called a monster.
The thing slowly slid towards its horrified father. Impossibly for a supposedly human child, the fiend uttered its first words- "PUNISH....ME!!!!"

                                                                     * * *

In another universe not far away from Seina's own, a woman by the name of Misato Katsuragi was about to have the best date she had ever had up to this point in her life.
She marveled at how far her date, Shinji Ikari, had come in his life. At one time, the boy was the most spineless blob of a human being you could imagine. Then, one day, literally overnight, he completely changed. He had gone from being a worthless loser, to a young man of great pride and confidence. This New Shinji single handedly defeated the Angels, stopped Third Impact, exposed the SEELE organization to the world, and brought his traitorous father, Gendo, to justice.
Shinji had also become a perfect gentleman in this time. So much so that he had inspired Asuka to become a much nicer girl in attempts to win his affection. On top of all that, Shinji had also grown a sexy and badass goatee to compliment his sudden change in character.
'It's a shame Rei is no longer with us to see this.' Misato thought of Rei Ayanami, who had become victim to a serial killer who had mysteriously appeared and plagued the area recently.
After Misato had a lengthy wait at the dining table, Shinji at last entered the dining room with a large dinner platter. The goatee-ed young man was dressed in a formal black suit, with a white shirt and tie visible around his collar. It was as elegant and refined as Misato had ever seen Shinji.
"Misato, my lady, I present to you a fine roast of which I have been saving for this moment for a long time."
Shinji then lifted the cover of the platter to reveal a lean slab of meat. It was of an unusual shape, but it looked tasty. This was all too much for Misato. Tears began to form in her eyes.
"What is the matter, my dear?"
"It's just that......this is a bit hard to handle. You've changed so much in a short time, Shinji. It's wonderful, yet hard to accept. Sometimes, I find myself missing the Old Shinji."
Shinji smiled pleasantly.
"Do not worry." he told her, "The Old Shinji is not gone. In fact, he is right here with us, in this very room. He is so close, you could taste him. You may even see him again real soon, say, in 24 hours."
Misato was baffled at what Shinji meant, but it was strangely comforting.
"Here." Shinji said, cutting a slice of the unusual roast, "I want you to try a piece of this, and tell me what you think."
Shinji put the piece of meat to a fork, and lifted it to Misato's mouth. She had no words. It was the best roast she ever tasted, and the smile upon her face said it all. Shinji smiled pleasantly.


                                                                END