Alternate GXP Episode 17 (re-write)

[Zigra]

 "This is incredible!"

Though he had his body enhancements for months now, Seina Yamada was still amazed at what he could do with his newfound abilities. At the moment, he found himself riding his bicycle at speeds that most cars couldn't achieve.

But, as much as he enjoyed playing around with his powers, he had other matters to attend to. He had instructions from both the Devil Princess herself and from Galaxy Police HQ . While he was staying on Earth, he was to visit and keep tabs on the family of his friend and classmate, Makoto Mizuhara. It turns out that Makoto's maternal grandmother, Misaki, is actually Seto's adopted daughter, and Seto wanted Seina to check up on how the family was doing. Especially in light of a recent....trip...that Makoto took.

That last matter was of some concern to the GP. So the story goes, right around the time that Seina joined the GP, Makoto, his two childhood friends Nanami and Katsuhito (Katshuhito could only be called "friend" very loosely), and a teacher of theirs got whisked away to another world and returned to tell the tale.

And tell the tale they did. Rather than keep their journey secret like some lame anime protagonist would, Makoto was very open about the trip to the people around him. Word quickly spread until Makoto's adventure became world news.

Furthermore, Makoto and his friends didn't return alone. Makoto brought back two female acquaintances from this strange world. One of them, an alabaster-skinned woman, was reputed to have such great beauty that she became an object of adoration around the world. People said that this woman bore an uncanny resemblance to the image people had in their minds for the human form of the the great Snake Goddess. (Plus, this woman was said to have such a nice tokus that she entire fanclubs were being developed just for that.)

All of this was worrisome for the Galaxy Police. The people of Earth already experienced a tremendous paradigm shift with the advent of the said Snake Goddess and the revelation that all the gods from every pantheon and religion around the world actually existed (which, to Seina's amusement, Makoto's mother was said to have a hand in, according to GP files). The rest of the galaxy wasn't yet ready for the humans of  Earth to know such things. And now, less than two decades later, the people of Earth were experiencing yet another such shift with the knowledge that extraterrestrial and extradimensional life existed in the cosmos. The GP now had to watch Earth very carefully, and part of Seina's current mission was to visit Makoto's residence and report as much about what was going on with Makoto and his family as he could.

"Now, what is the fastest way to get there, from here?" he wondered aloud, "Oh, I know!"

Seina believed he could take a shortcut through the woods, and he would get there in no time. He was right. Sort of. After a few minutes of effortlessly gliding through the trees and brush, the forest and the ground beneath him suddenly gave way to nothing but air.

"WAIT, I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS A CLIFF HHHEEEEEEERRRrrrrre.....".

                                                        * * *



"Is he going to be alright?"
"Oh, I'm sure he will be. It's not as if he hasn't survived worse."

The sounds of the voices brought Seina back into the world. He opened his eyes and found himself lying on a soft surface, possibly a bed mat, and in a room. He quickly saw a face that was familiar, and yet somehow different, smiling over him. Makoto.

"You see? The guy is harder to kill than an army of cockroaches." Makoto chuckled.

Seina slowly sat up and stared at his friend in wonder. Was this really Makoto? It had only been months since Seina had last seen him, but Makoto had somehow changed drastically. It was as if Makoto had aged a number of years. Instead of the awkward and somewhat girlish boy in his mid-teens that Seina had known, Makoto now looked like a very handsome young man. Apparently, the stories of what he had been through had a kernel of truth to them.

"We were really worried about you, Seina." a familiar female voice chimed in.

Seina finally took notice of two other individuals in the room. The first was a gorgeous blue-haired woman with pink eyes whom Seina immediately recognized as Makoto's mother, Sasami, whom, to Seina's surprise, was several months pregnant. Standing next to Sasami was a purple-haired girl that Seina knew as Shaorin, Makoto's older sister. She, too, had quite a baby bump.

The sight of Makoto's mother was always pleasantly welcome to Seina. Sasami, who lived on Earth under the identity of Samantha Mizuhara (often called "Sammy" for short), was the most beautiful woman Seina had ever known, and she radiated a great sense of warmth that always soothed Seina, even in the lowest points of his life (and it also made Katsuhito Jinnai immensly jealous that Makoto had such a beautiful mother and he didn't). This could have had something to do with the fact that Sasami had merged with Tsunami, the mother treeship of Jurai. Shaorin had that same aura of warmth and compassion as her mother.

"How are you feeling?" Sasami asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit hungry." Seina answered, "I probably shouldn't have skipped breakfast."

"Well then! Mother and I can get started preparing you something to eat!" Shaorin said, clasping her hands together.

Seina watched as Sasami and Shaorin walked out of the room. For a moment, he felt a bit weird as he saw them put their arms around each other. He could have easily brushed that off as regular mother/child affection, but there seemed to be something.....more....to it.

"Come on, now. Why don't I show you around the ship?" Makoto said, patting Seina on the shoulder.

"Ship?"

                                                             * * *



Stepping out of the room onto a balcony, Seina was greeted by a breathtaking sight. Stretched out before him was a large cityscape as far as the eye could see. He could hear the sounds of life coming from all directions. The building he was in appeared to be at the heart of this city, and was apparently one of the tallest buildings.

"My God, Makoto, where are we?" Seina asked in awe.

"Well, technically, we are aboard a spaceship. And not just any spaceship. We are onboard Tsunami, the mother of all of Jurai's treeships." Makoto explained.

"Incredible! But, if we're onboard Tsunami, then what is this city doing on the ship?" Seina asked further.

"Come with me. I'll take you on a tour and explain everything to you."

Makoto guided Seina to a transporter stand at the edge of the balcony and the two disappeared. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.......

           

                                                             * * *


When he finally stepped out onto the city streets, Seina was treated to an even greater surprise. The inhabitants were not human. To Seina, they looked like a bunch of anthropomorphic snakes. They all had snake-like heads, though their body types had two variations. Some had humanoid bodies with legs, and some lacked legs and had the lower half of a true snake, albeit with arms and a humanoid upper torso. Both varieties had dark blue scales and red eyes with black slits.

Then Seina noticed that the architecture of most the buildings were riddled with snake imagery. Some buildings were shaped like coiled serpents. Some buildings had statues of snakes overlooking the streets. Some buildings had carvings of snake images on their outer walls. Seina noticed a common motif of a snake with a vaguely humanoid upper torso battling a snake with rainbow plumage all while a three-headed snake with humanlike-heads observed them from the top-center.

Seina looked back at the building he and Makoto had come from. Out of all the sights he had seen in this city, that building was the most breathtaking of all. With a height to match the skyscrapers of New York, the structure took the form of a human woman with ghost white skin and pale blue hair (which, Seina noted, matched the description of now-famous woman Makoto returned from the other world with). Circling around the woman's body was, true to this city's form, a gargantuan serpent. The serpent's lower end seemed to be coming out of the form of the woman's body. Something about it almost gave Seina the impression that the woman was transforming into the serpent.

"Who are these people, Makoto?" Seina asked with bewilderment, "I'm not familar with any such race in the GXP files."

"They are called the Sarrukh." Makoto answered. "Long story short, they come from a planet from another universe called Toril. They once dominated the majority of that planet, but after several millennia their race fell into decline, and several newer races, like humans, began to take over. Many Sarrukh were torn about what to do in the situation. Some wanted to destroy the new races, some wanted to try and co-exist, while others wanted to simply leave their homeworld and leave the new races to their fate. The Sarrukh you see before you are descendants of the latter faction. And as it turned out, Tsunami had very close...ahem....dealings with the snake deity of the Sarrukh, and she offered to take them aboard herself and make the pocket dimension inside her their new home and they now dwell here with their spiritual leaders, the Couatl."

"And the Sarrukh aren't the only inhabitants in this space." Makoto went on, "The pocket space within Tsunami-fune houses an entire world, and many different peoples inhabit this world. The continent of New Valusia is home to another race of snake people who hail from an alternate version of Earth that my mother refers to as the 'Cthulhuverse'.  On the island of Misha live the Irda, a race of blue-skinned humanoids that originate for the world of Krynn. The jungle land of Lustria is home to a race of savage lizardfolk who are overseen by their master, a toad-like creature called a Slann. And there are plenty more. Many of these races were trying to escape some calamity on their homeworld, and my mother found them and took them under her caring wing."

Seina wanted to know so much more, as well as ask Makoto about his trip to another world, but before Seina could ask him what was wrong, Makoto grabbed him and tackled him to the ground as a blue blur sped past them by them at an incredible speed. The Sarrukh in the area quickly dispersed, seeming to understand what had just happened.

The blur turned around and took shape. Seina was then awestruck at the sight of a beautiful girl with blue hair and matching blue eyes. Quite oddly, she was dressed in what appeared to be a Playboy bunny suit that came in a shade of blue similar to the girl's hair and eyes. His nose started bleeding at this sight. And then he saw the combat knife in the girl's hand.

"Aww, you're no fun, Makoto!" the girl pouted.

"Ryoko, what have we told you about maiming the guests?" Makoto snapped.

"But I think this ugly little guy would look much cuter if he was covered in scars!" the girl said, a cheerful smile returning to her face.

The girl turned and gazed at Seina.

"Say, little guy, I noticed you're bleeding from your nose. Would you like me to make you bleed some more?" she said while brandishing her knife.

Makoto sighed and regained his composure.

"Seina, meet Ryoko Asakura. She is one of my mother's wiv...."

"There you are!"

The three of them looked up to see that another woman had arrived on the scene. Like he had with Sasami, Seina was struck by this woman's beauty. Her facial features were very delicate, and she had both dirty blond hair and golden eyes to match. She was also pregnant, much like Sasami and Shaorin were (Seina was beginning to get curious about that).

"Sara, I...." Makoto tried to get out.

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" the blond said, interrupting him, "You're late for your date with me, and now I find out that you jilted me to play with Ryoko!"

Makoto held his head low. He could try to argue, try to point out how he got sidetracked by Seina's unexpected arrival, but he knew he wouldn't win.

"If you think you're getting out of this, think again!" Sara told Makoto triumphantly.

The blond girl then grabbed Makoto by the arm and dragged him off. He didn't get a chance to protest. Seina turned at looked back at Ryoko, whose smile grew even brighter.
"Uh oh......"

                                                              * * *



"Don't run off too far, Fuku!"

The cabbit casually ignored Neeju's words, having too much fun to care about what the priestess was saying. After regaining some of her energy pigging out on carrots from some abandoned carrot patch, she was full of energy.

Fuku came upon a sight that wouldn't have seemed unusual for an Earther, but which made her intensely curious- a cow.

Fuku hopped on up to the cow, paying no mind to the way the animal glared at her....


                                                             * * *

"My God! How can she run so fast in those high heels???!!!"

Seina was caught up in the chase of his life. He ran at top speed with Ryoko hot on his trail, the knife swinging in her hand. The Sarrukh in the streets simply jumped out of their way, apparently not wanting to get involved or help.  If it weren't for Seina's body enhancements, there wouldn't have even been a chase. She would have caught up with him right from the start if he could only run as fast as a normal human. As it was, even with the enhancements he still only barely kept ahead of her.

But, Seina's bad luck always seems to get the best of him. Like some helpless woman in a cliche' horror film, something caught Seina's foot and he came tumbling to the ground. To further add to his horrible luck, his ankle was badly twisted, something he thought would be hard to accomplish with his enhancements.

"You can't get away now." Ryoko told him, with a damnably cheerful smile on her face.

As Ryoko moved in for the kill, Seina's luck changed. Something blocked her attack. Tenchi. Yes, Makoto's father, Tenchi Masaki, had arrived and was blocking Ryoko's knife with some manner of sword that reminded Seina a bit of the Light Hawk Wings generated by Jurai's ships.

"Oh dear, is it that time again?" came a female voice from behind Seina.

He turned and saw a woman who was remarkably similar in appearance to Sasami. He immediately recognized her as Misaki, the former empress of Jurai.

"Yes," Tenchi replied, "I think it is. You wanna handle this, Misaki?"

"Sure, why not?"

With that, Tenchi lowered his sword, and Misaki moved in towards Ryoko.

"Come here, you..." Misaki told the psycho girl.

Misaki proceeded to tickle Ryoko, inciting child-like laughter from the psycho girl. The former empress then picked Ryoko up and carried her away.
"Sorry about that, Seina." Tenchi said. "Ryoko gets a little playful when she's in heat. Now, let's see about taking care of your ankle."

As Tenchi went to work helping Seina, Seina pondered to himself what Tenchi meant about Ryoko being in heat and why Misaki carried her off like that.

                                                       * * *

"There you are Fuku! We've been looking all over for you!"

Fuku awoke to see Kiriko and Neeju standing over her. She didn't quite understand what had happened to her over the hours she had been out cold, but she knew she had a massive queasy feeling in her stomach.

"She doesn't look too good." Neeju observed with concern.

"Oh, it's probably just all the carrots she ate. I'm sure she'll be back to normal in no time." Kiriko said.

Neeju was a bit skeptical, but she simply shrugged, picked the cabbit up, and they walked on.

                                                                   * * *



"Incredible!" Seina said as Tenchi used his powers to heal Seina's ankle.

After Tenchi finished healing Seina, an explanation was in order. Tenchi filled Seina in on the details of Makoto's journey to another world. He told Seina about how Makoto and his friends were sent to the strange world of El Hazard by a mysterious woman. He went into detail about the people of Roshtaria, and their war with robotic insect creatures called the Bugrom, and how Jinnai became leader of the Bugrom. He told him of the Phantom Tribe who kidnapped one of Roshtaria's princesses, and how Makoto was made to impersonate the said princess because he looked exactly like her (and also of Makoto's highly amusing encounter with the princess's lesbian lover, Alielle).

But, most important of all, he told Seina the story about the so-called "Demon God", Ifurita, whom Jinnai tried to control. It turned out that Ifurita was the mysterious woman who brought everyone to El Hazard, though she had no memory of doing so. Makoto, using an ability he inherited from his mother (which he assumed he acquired while being teleported to EH), managed to touch Ifurita's soul and free her from Jinnai's control.

Eventually, after the defeat of both the Bugrom and the Phantom Tribe, Ifurita had to stop a weapon called the Eye of God. The consequence of this would be that the Eye would send her to another world or dimension. She and Makoto realized that Ifuirta must have been sent to Earth's past via the Eye, and that's how she was able to send everybody to El Hazard. Knowing that it was fate for this to happen, Makoto and Ifurita said their farewell, and Makoto promised he would find a way back to Earth to meet her again.

"Eventually," Tenchi went on, "Makoto found a way back to Earth that was most unexpected. It turned out that Ifurita's mother and creator, a woman named Sylia Stingray, had been kept in stasis just as Ifurita had. Sylia had special knowledge about the Eye of God and how to utilize its power. With her knowledge, Makoto was able to return to Earth and be reunited with Ifurita."

A tiny smirk appeared on Tenchi's face.

"But, that's not all. Not only did Makoto soon reunite Ifurita with her long lost mother, but there was somebody else who was anxious to see Ifurita. It turns out that Ifurita secretely had a little.....tryst....with Alielle, Princess Fatora's lover. When Makoto brought them together again, Ifurita saw Alielle carrying a little girl who looked just like Ifurita."

Seina was a bit confused for a moment before it finally sunk in.

"Whoa, hold on a minute!" the GP cadet said, "Are you saying that Alielle had Ifurita's child?! How is that even possible with them both being...you know?!"

"Well, Seina, it turns out that women of divine or mystical nature, like goddesses, angels, fairies, and some sorceresses, have a little known ability- they can reproduce with other women. Ifurita had a divine nature within herself that she didn't know about, so when she had her little fling with Alielle, she unknowingly got the girl pregnant. You can imagine her surprise when Alielle presented her with their daughter."

Seina pondered this information, a bit bewildered, before asking Tenchi something that had been on his mind.

"Say, I noticed that there are a number of women aboard this ship with baby bumps. Now, I know that the GP files said that your wife Sasami had numerous spouse....."
"Oh, yeah. You see, the women you saw are all married to Sasami. Or Tsunami, depending on how you look at it. Tsunami met a lot of women during her journeys through space and time that she had fallen in love with, and she eventually married them all. There were even a few men, such as myself, that she fell in love and married"

"However, if you see any women with baby bumps right now, they probably aren't carrying Tsunami's child, but Ifurita's. Long story short, when Ifurita was sent away by the Eye of God, she met Tsunami in the distant past. The two of them fell in love and had quite a history together. In fact, Shaorin is actually Ifurita's daugther with Sasami, not my daughter like you may have always thought. Anyway, after Ifurita awoke in the present and reunited with Makoto, her mother, and Alielle, she was also reunited with Tsunami, and became one of Tsunami's wives. Since then, Ifurita has been rather popular with the other wives, even her own daughter."

Things began to make more sense to Seina. After knowing about Juraian marriage habits, that last incestous part didn't surprise him. He was about to ask Tenchi about those other men Tsunami married and who exactly they were, but a large voice boomed from behind him.

"THERE!!!! THAT MUST BE THE DIRTBAG SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!"

Seina turned around, and his jaw dropped. Standing was one of the oddest sights he had seen since he joined the GXP.  What he saw could only be described as a blue anthropomorphic brontosaurus. Seina had only a moment to take this in and realize that this must be one of the inhabitants of Reptilon, a world on the other side of the sun from Earth,  before the creature grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up.

"Bron, what the hell are you doing?!" Tenchi shouted.

"This asshole tried to rape Ryoko!" Bronto Thunder explained, "She came running to me with nothing but a bath towel, and said this piece of crap tore off her clothes and tried to ravage her!"

Before Tenchi could stop him, Bron tossed Seina high into the air. Seina had no idea how long he flew across the vastness of the ship's space, but eventually he hit some sort of body of water. Any normal person would have been killed by the impact, but Seina had a way, even before his enhancements, of surviving things that no regular human being could. Before he lost consciousness, he saw a shape swimming up from below him. He wanted to panic when he saw an all too recognizable fin on its back, but then everything went black....


                                                              * * *

"Look, the strange creature is waking up."
For the second time in a day, Seina found himself waking up from unconsciousness. When he gained a bit of awareness, he realized that there was a pair of women standing above him. He slowly sat up, and then felt a massive pain on his right leg. He looked down to see a massive bite mark on that leg.
"Aggh! What the hell happened?!"
"Sorry, my bad!"
He turned and looked at the girl who said that. To say that this girl was an exotic beauty was an understatement. Her skin was pure white, and she had long flowing silver hair with completely black eyes. Seina also noted that she appeared to have gills on her neck. Then he noted that she was completely wet and naked. He tried real hard to prevent himself from fainting.
"I was just doing a little taste test." the nude woman explained, "You know, Mister,  you don't taste very good. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. I am Sadie, Princess of the Great White Sharks and daughter of the great Shark Goddess Ka'ahupahau."
"Your Highness, isn't it about time for your dinner?"
The second woman stepped forward. From out of nothing, the second woman caused a small seal to materialize. The shark girl got excited as the other woman threw the seal into the nearby water. The shark girl jumped into the water, transforming into a full great white shark, to chase after the seal.
After realizing that he was on some sort of beach, Seina looked upon the second woman and gasped. Once he took in her appearance, he knew exactly who he was looking at. That alabaster skin, that baby blue hair, those impossibly red lips, and beauty that rivaled even Sasami. She wore a rainbow-colored gossamer dress that was topped with a hood that took on the unusual shape of a snake's mouth. Like the other women he had seen, she was with child.
"Ifurita?"
The woman smiled.
"I'm glad I didn't have to show you my rear end for you to know who I am. But, yes, that is one name I am known by. I have so many names. Sithra, Eingana, Sesha, Ophion, Naga Padoha, Puana. But, I'm rather fond of the names Jazirian and Ifurita, so you can call me either of those."
Seina's eyes widened. Those names. The names of various snake deities around the world that merged together to become the Snake Goddess.
"Ifurita....you're.....?"
"Yes. I am the Great Snake Mother. And I am also Ifurita. We have merged together in the same way that Sasami and Tsunami have."
"I....I guess Mr. Masaki didn't tell me everything about you."
The way that Ifurita smiled at Seina truly struck him. The aura of warmth and compassion was just like Sasami's. It was more than just being similar, it was as if the two of them mirrored each other somehow. The Goddess took Seina's hand and lifted him to his feet.
"Come on now, Seina. The others are looking for you and are worried sick."
  Ifurita walked on along the beach, and Seina, his head feeling a little woozy, followed. They eventually came to a large group of people, mostly women. Seina saw Sasami, Tenchi, Makoto, and that brontosaurus man at the head of this group.
"There he is! My sensors did say he was around this area somewhere!" Sasami exclaimed.
When group caught up to Seina and Ifurita, Sasami apologized for not getting there sooner, citing that Seina's bad luck aura made it difficult for her to find him.
"Now, Bron," Sasami said, "don't you have something to say to Seina?"
The bronto man had a highly embarrassed look on his face before he finally worked up the nerve to speak.
"I'm very sorry. I didn't realize Ryoko was in one of her 'playful' periods when she said the things she did. I really should have known better."
"And Ryoko," Sasami gestured to the blue-haired troublemaker who was stepping forward from the group, "what do you have to say?"
"I'm sorry I tried to get you all fucked up." Ryoko said, never letting go of that cheerful demeanor of her's, "I won't try to add any more scars to you, especially since you now have a nice enough one on your leg."
Sasami sighed, realizing that this was probably the best she could expect from the psycho girl.
"Anyway, since poor Seina here didn't get to finish his lunch, why don't we invite him to eat with us?"
The others in the group all seemed to agree that it was a good idea and they all marched on back to the house.

                                                              * * *

At the large dinner table, Seina was amazed at the large group that was amassed there. Sasami really had acquired a family of some remarkably beautiful women. The few he met earlier barely scratched the surface of just how large a group this really was.
  He could also see bits and pieces of the dynamics of this family while watching them. Sasami herself had been joined to the hilt with Ifurita since Seina had first seen them together, and they sat next to one another at the table, with Sasami's mother, Misaki, on the other side of her daughter. Alielle sat on the other side of Ifurita with their little daughter in her lap. Every now and then throughout the dinner, Seina caught sight of Alielle quietly reaching over to goose Ifurita, which made Ifurita smile in surprise each time.
  Sitting on the other side of Misaki were a pair of girls who were her daughters- Shiori, her daughter with Ifurita, and Serena, her daughter with Sasami (which technically also made her Misaki's granddaughter as well as daughter).
At a nearby side of the table, Tenchi sat with a teal-haired woman named Kiyone whom Seina learned was his mother and Makoto's grandmother. Or, rather, Kiyone was somehow merged with Tenchi's mother in a manner similar to the Sasami/Tsunami and Ifurita/Jazirian mergers. On the other side of Tenchi sat the two children he had with Sasami, Makoto and Izumi. Shaorin sat next to Izumi, and their interactions with one another suggested to Seina that they were close.
  Ukyo and Kasumi, the ones who had helped Sasami and Shaorin prepare the meal, seemed awfully close, as they not only made the meal together, but they sat together at the table alongside the women Seina found out where their mother and daughters. Seina had also heard that Ukyo and Kasumi each had alternate universe counterparts which were also part of this marriage, though those two weren't present at the dinner.
Sara Mudo, the girl who whisked Makoto away earlier, sat across Makoto and gave him a look of satisfaction which made Makoto blush.
  And there were several more girls to this large family that Seina had only just barely gotten to know. Everything from a vampire woman named Akasha Bloodriver who had also merged with some manner of love goddess from Toril, to a green-haired empress of another galaxy named Lashara Moon, Feena Fam Earthlight, who was the daughter of Ifurita and a lunar queen from another universe, a girl named Misao Amano who came from a bizarre alternate universe where Sasami was a magical girl, to a brontosaurus girl named Apatty Saurus who was Bronto Thunder's mate. And this was just the individuals at this particular dinner. And each one of them was carrying Ifurita's child (sort of; Apatty was said to have a clutch of eggs that Ifruita had sired). Sasami had many more spouses Seina didn't know how she kept track of them all.
Quietly, Seina wondered if he would ever have such a family, and if he could even handle such a thing. He mused at the idea of such a thing with the group of girls he worked with. He was growing to care about each of them, and often pondered who he'd end up with if he had to make the choice. However, after seeing Sasami's family, he wondered if he'd even have to choose at all.
As he was lost in thought, Seina's tricorder sounded off. The group fell silent as Seina answered it. Kiriko appeared on its screen.
"Sorry, to interrupt you, Seina, but we're being reassigned. We need to leave now, I'm afraid." she explained.
The GP cadet sighed. He wasn't going to get to finish this meal, either.
"Okay, I'll beam aboard the Kamidake right away." He said reluctantly.
"Aww, that's too bad. I was hoping you could stay the rest of the day." Makoto said with a hint of regret in his voice.
"Yeah, I was really hoping I'd get to know everybody better, but duty calls!"

                                                             * * *

Everybody was at the Tsunami's transporter to bid Seina Yamada farewell.

"Goodbye, everybody! Thanks for the.....adventurous...time you all gave me!"

They all waved goodbye as Seina was beamed aboard the Kamidake II. Sasami's Tsunami aspect watched a smile as the other the K II prepared to leave. But then that smile quickly turned to a look of horror. Something was wrong with the K II. And before Sasami could shout her alarm to the others, the Kamidake exploded.

                                                          * * *

"My God, what happened?" Makoto asked in shock.

"The Galaxy Police is still trying to piece together everything everything." Sasami explained, "What they believe happened is that somebody got a hold of Fuku, the ship's core, and somehow set off a self-destruct mechanism. Thankfully, everybody, even Fuku herself, was evacuated from the ship before it blew up."

Sasami was silent for a moment before she added more.

"Most of the crew is alright, except for Amane. Her whole body is covered in third degree burns that will take weeks of regenerative therapy to heal."

"Who could have done such a horrible thing?" Ifurita asked.

"The GP keeps questioning Fuku on who did this to her, and all she says is the grass-eater. Nobody knows who she's talking about.'".

Unseen by the others, Ryoko Asakura smiled and suppressed a giggle. She then walked away from the group.

                                                     * * *

A short while later, Ryoko found herself in a grassy field and came upon a cow grazing in the field. She recognized it as Sara Mudo's pet. She patted the cow on the head.

"And they call me a psycho." Ryoko chuckled.

"Moo."



                                                   END