"Maxwell! What the hell happened to you?" asked Tenchi. But Max did not answer. He looked up, grimly at Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka. Tenchi saw the blood pouring from Max's chest.

    "...Uhg....Well, that's gonna....leave.....a mark...." said Max as he collapsed to the ground.

    The darkness faded into light. The soft cooing sound of an angel singing grew louder and louder, as Maxwell entered the realm of sub-consciousness. The angel's singing calmed him and he began to drift back into a deep slumber. He felt tired, so very tired, that he had trouble breathing, and even opening his eyes. His eyelids slowly closed and he began to deeply breathe. Even though he could not see the angel, he could feel her presence. In his mind he could see her sitting next him, lovingly watching over him as he laid there sleeping. He gave up trying to move and just focused on the sound of the angel's singing. His bed was soft and warm, and his body did not ache. The pure light that engulfed him was not too bright, and not to dim. He just relaxed. Perfectly content and at peace he sighed. A few minutes had passed and Max was now feeling much better, as if the singing had some how restored his strength. He could not wait much longer, he wanted to see what the afterlife looked like. He hoped there was something too see other then the white light that he could see through his half open eyelids. More importantly he wanted see to this angel who singing so lovely to him. He tried to move his body so he could sit up, but all he could manage was raising his hand slightly off his downy bed. After a brief moment of struggle his hand fell back to the bed, defeated by his fatigue. Max squinted his eyes shut in disappointment. Even in death he was helpless. A single tear rolled down his cheek. Then he felt a warm clasp on the hand he tried to raise. The angel had taken a hold of his hand with her own. She gave it a lovingly squeeze. She leaned over to Max and whispered softly in his ear.

    "Everything's okay now. I have you, safe and sound. Now sleep, little one." she said as she started to sing once again. After a few more minutes her singing lulled Max back into a deep sleep.

    A sharp, searing pain in Max's gut made him sit bolt up right in his bed. He looked around himself frantically. He was disoriented, and didn't know what was going on. He looked around once again, rubbing his eyes. He opened them, against their will and found himself back in the medical bay of Washu's lab.

    "Oh good! You're up!" said Washu cheerfully. She was sitting in a small chair next to Maxwell's bed. "I see the pain killer has warn off."

    "Where....Where is she?" asked Maxwell.

    "Where's who?" asked Washu.

    "...The angel... The angel! She was here just a minute ago!"

    "What do you mean? The only person here is me." said Washu. "Now lay down. You don't want to strain yourself do you?" Max laid down and Washu pulled the covers down to his waist. Max saw he had a rather bloody bandage wrapped around his lower chest.

    "But...She was right here, Washu--"

    "Hush now." Washu put her index finger to Max's lips. "I need to check your wound, so be silent and still."

    Maxwell relaxed a bit. "It...must have been a dream....." he said lightly to himself.

    Washu removed the bandage from Max and took a warm, damp cloth from the bedside table. She began to wipe some of the dried blood off of him. A few moments was all it took, and then she began to poke and prod a nasty looking scar that was revealed by her cleaning. Max squinted a bit from discomfort. It wasn't painful, but it was very tender and sensitive. Washu took the bandage completely off and set it down in a trashcan, and grabbed a smaller bandage from the table. She peeled the paper of the back of it, and placed the bandage firmly on Max's scar. "That will keep it from getting infected." she said. "My medical supplies healed the wound, but it's still very tender. Too much strain and you could seriously hurt your self."

    Max sat up and started to get off the bed when he noticed something about him. "....Where's my pants?" he asked, quite concerned. Then he felt around his neck. "And where's my medallion?"

    Washu blinked a few times. "Medallion? ....I don't know of any medallion, but your pants are over there." she pointed to a table full of Max's things, on the other side of the room.

    "Why are my things down here?" he asked, growing more concerned by the minute.

    "Well, I'm going to be...uh...monitoring your health for the next few days." she said. "Just to be safe." She gave him a reassuring smile.

    Max stretched his arms and yawned. "How long was I out?"

    "Just a few days..."

    "Oh is that all?" Max gave her a quirky smile. "...Wait!" he yelled. "Then we've go no time to waste!" He hopped down from his bed, with his covers wrapped around him. He walked over to his pile of stuff and dufflebag. He grabbed a pair of blue boxers, and his baggy cargo pants. Then he turned around and saw Washu, looking at him. He coughed and made a swirling gesture with his index finger. Washu blushed and spun around. With Washu's back to him, Maxwell got dressed. "I'm decent." he said, and Washu turned around.

    "Now...What do you mean we don't have time to waste?" she asked.

    "Well, Nagi's gonna be looking for me. She said she was going to take me out...and then Ryoko would be next. She may have thought she killed me but she's smart enough to consider me alive until she's seen my body. We've got a lot of work to do." He reached in his duffel bag and pulled out a small metallic cylinder with a single red button near one of the ends. He held it in his left hand and pressed the button and threw it on the ground. It exploded in a bright flash of light, and when the smoke cleared there was a tall gray cabinet. He reached inside and pulled out a laser blaster and holster, and a rather large, double edged, sword and sheath. He strapped the gun to his side with the holster, and he slung the huge sword's sheath on his back. He took the sword in one hand and ran his thumb up and down one of the sides, to test its sharpness. Then he swung it around in a circle and did some routine swings and exercises to show his mastery of the weapon before he sheathed it. Then he took some hand grenades and clipped them to his belt. And last but not least he took an old, blood stained, white headband. He wrapped it around his head and tied it off tightly.

    Washu jumped to her feet. "What are you doing!" she yelled. "You can't be fighting in your condition! Take those off and get back in bed!"

    "I can't do that Washu." He pressed the red button on the cabinet and it returned to a cylinder. He picked it up and put it in his dufflebag. "Washu. I haven't been completely honest with you or Tenchi..." Max walked over to her and put his arms around her and gave her a hug. "Thanks Washu, for all of your help. But now I've got something I need to do... On my own." Washu hugged him back, and before it got too sentimental Ryoko came crashing through the door.

    "Well, now that you're up, would you mind telling us, what the hell's going on?!" yelled Ryoko.

    "...There's no time for that now. I need to go somewhere now, and if you want to come with me that's fine. Just stay out of my way." He walked past Ryoko and out of the medical bay.

    The door to Washu's lab opened up and Maxwell emerged into the living room. Tenchi and Ayeka were sitting on the blue couch talking about Max, when Tenchi saw him standing there.

    "Max! You're up! ...Uh...What's up?" he asked.

    "No time to explain, we need to get going, before it's too late. Tenchi, get your sword--the Master Key, and meet me at the grotto by Funaho. Come prepared for battle." Then he turned to face Ayeka. "Ayeka... Princess... I implore you... I am about endanger the lives of the Jurai Royal Family that is here on Earth. That's you, Sasami, Tenchi, and Yosho. I need you and Sasami to get to Washu's lab and tell her to get you two in a shelter of some kind. All hell's about to break loose...And I don't want any friendly blood shed...Other than mine."

    Ryoko then barged in the room, dragging Washu by the hair. "She's not telling me anything!!" she yelled.

    Max spun around and looked at Ryoko angrily. "That's because she doesn't know anything!"

    Ryoko blinked a few times and dropped Washu. "eh...Sorry about that Wash--"

    "Silence! Look, I want all of you girls to get somewhere safe, NOW! If I come back alive, I'll tell you what's going." He looked over at Tenchi who came running down the stairs. He held the Master Key in his hands. "Good, Tenchi, let's go!"

    Max came ripping out of the Masaki house and bolted down the path to the grotto. On the path he saw Yosho. He stopped running and stopped next to him.

    "I take it you know what's going on?" he asked Yosho.

    "Yes... I do." he replied.

    "Then give me my damn medallion back."

    Yosho reached into one of his pockets and pulled it out and gave it to Max. "Like Tenchi, you are going to go into combat without full knowledge of your weapon?" he asked.

    "Hell yes! I don't know what the hell this medallion is," Max paused as he put the medallion around his neck, "And besides...I bet you did the same thing with the Master Key..." Max held the golden disk in his hand and he looked at it. "I don't know what it is, exactly, but I'm sure it'll help me."

    "Then I suppose you have already figured out who you really are?"

    "Without a doubt. Tenchi is third generation crowned Prince of Jurai... As am I.... Uncle Yosho." Max gave Yosho a big grin.

    Yosho was quite surprised. "I can't believe you figured THAT much out. I was sure you'd figure out you're from Jurai sooner or later...But guessing you were my great grand nephew? ...Well boy, you've taken me by surprise." Yosho laughed. "But, now is the time for action. Go to the grotto, I will be there right behind you."

    Maxwell nodded and continued running down the path. Tenchi shortly followed.

    Max slowly came out into the opening of the grotto. He looked over at the base of the tree and saw two figures leaning against it. Tenchi came running around the corner and bumped into Max lightly. "Who are those two?" he asked.

    Maxwell looked over his shoulder as Yosho came walking around the corner. "Well, Tenchi... I bet you've met them already. Come with me you two." Max stepped on the stepping stone path that went out to Funaho's island. When the two shadowy figures saw the trio of Juraians approaching they stood up and the middle one, stepped forward.

    "Welcome, Welcome!" said one of two shadowy figures. "It took you long enough to heal, Maxwell. I thought your father taught you better then that... Getting killed by a laser pistol. How ashamed I am of you!"

    "Save it grandpa! What the hell are you doing here?!" Max yelled back.

    "Well, well, I see you still have my medallion. I suggest if you don't want your two little friends to get hurt...that you hand it over right now."

    "Bah. I'll never hand it over to YOU. You killed my mother AND father. And it was all because of this little medallion." Max grabbed a hold of the medallion with his right hand. "Ya know. It was pretty clever... When you returned to Earth and couldn't find me here in Japan, you killed my father. So you tracked me down in the States. Lucky for me, mother was already aware of your little scam...So we fled to the stars. And because space is so vast... You hired some helping hands. Isn't that right, NAGI?"

    "Very, very, good! You'd make one hell of a bounty hunter, Maxwell." said Nagi.

    Tenchi squinted and focused on Maxwell's grandfather. When he saw whom it was he nearly feinted. "Max?! You're grandfather is Kagato?!" he stammered.

    Yosho put his hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "Yes, Tenchi. Maxwell's grandfather is Kagato."

    "B-But! That's impossible!" said Tenchi. "But I killed Kagato, remember? When he came here and took Ryoko and tried to steal the Master Key!"

    Yosho laughed. "Well, if you find this upsetting, then I probably shouldn't mention that Kagato's my brother..."

    "WHAT?!"

    Yosho scratched the back of his head. "Oops... Heh... My bad."

    Kagato interrupted the two Masakis. "Well, brother, why don't finish what we started last time?" he gave them an evil smile.

    Yosho rested his hands behind his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm too old to be fighting. However, I'm sure Tenchi--" Yosho kicked Tenchi out into view. "--would be more then happy to take my place."

    Kagato snarled. "What? You again, boy? I thought you died when my ship exploded!" Kagato summoned his green broad sword. "Well, in light of these new events, I think I'll take out my frustration on the boy, instead of you, brother. He is the one who blew up my Soja after all. And when I've finished with him, I'll take care of you, brother."

    Maxwell burst out. "Hey! You leave them alone! This is between you and me!" yelled Max.

    "My, my, my, grandson. I wouldn't dream of harming my successor." said Kagato.

    Max laughed. "Ya, right. Try telling dad that. Oh wait, you can't because you KILLED him."

    Kagato turned toward Nagi, ignoring Max. "The boy and old man our mine. You subdue Max. But I don't want you to hurt him... mortally anyway."

    Nagi nodded and walked toward Max. Max drew his greatsword and took up a stance. "I hope your skills with a sword are better then your skills with energy blasts." said Nagi sarcastically.

    Max grinned. "Don't worry... I've been playing with swords a lot longer then fireballs."

    Then a great beam of crimson light shot down from the sky. It hit Nagi and exploded. Nagi was thrown back into the tree. "Nagi! Oh, yes, it's time for my revenge!" laughed Ryoko as she floated down from the sky. "You know....I've gotten a lot stronger since our last encounter. I give you five minutes, before I rip you to pieces." Just then Ryoko saw Kagato and she shrieked. "No! Kagato!" She turned around and started to run but it was too late. Kagato had already begun attacking her mind. It didn't take to long for him to re-activate Ryoko's control chip that he had installed somewhere deep within her brain long, long ago.

    "Ryoko, no!" Tenchi yelled out as he activated the Master Key and transformed into his Jurian Battle Form. Tenchi leaped over Max and brought his sword down at Kagato's head. But Kagato summoned a shield and Tenchi was repelled as if here were a Ping-Pong ball slamming into a wall.

    "Boy, have you yet to learn, direct attacks won't work on me? Last time you were lucky, I will not loose a second time."

    Maxwell didn't heed the whole "direct attacks don't work" thing and charged Kagato. He cocked his greatsword to the left, and unleashed a powerful horizontal slash to the right. His sword penetrated deep into Kagato's shield, but it exploded into millions of shards before it even came close to Kagato's face. A few shards made it all the way though the shield and cut Kagato accross the face. But the initial blast had thrown Max back just like Tenchi, only Maxwell's sword was reduced to nothing more then a mere hilt. Max skipped across the water like a stone and slammed into the bank. Before he could stand though, Nagi was upon him. She put her sword tip to his face and told him to stand. As he rose his hands from the water he unclipped a grenade from his submerged belt. As he stood he threw the bomb at Nagi. Instinctively Nagi brought her sword up to parry the orb away from her. Max dove back into the murky pond water just as Nagi's sword sliced into the grenade. As soon as her sword made contact she realized what she had done. The bomb exploded and fire and shrapnel rained into Nagi. The water protected Max from the fire, but a piece of shrapnel sunk deeply into his left thigh. He surfaced from the water with a scream, that got a lot louder when he was what the explosion did to Nagi. He couldn't tell if she was DOA but she was floating on her back in the now bloody water. He stood up and pried Nagi's sword from her dead-like hands and jump up on the nearest stone. He looked back over to the middle of the pond and saw Tenchi had already beaten him there and was battling with Kagato.

    "Where the hell is Ryoko?"

    A crimson laser from above that missed Max by inches was all the answer he needed. He back flipped to the dry ground and kicked off of it. He rocketed upward, like a bullet, toward Ryoko. He brought Nagi's sword around and tried another horizontal slash. Ryoko's red laser sword met his and parried it. Max however continued with the horizontal movement and brought his leg around. It connected with Ryoko's side and she balled up her fist as she delivered a gut punch to Max. Ryoko's punch had landed squarely on Max's wound. His eyes lit up, and returned her punch with a punch to the face. Ryoko was knocked back and stunned. Then Max brought both hands over his head, and clasped them both tightly around Nagi's sword. He then brought his hands down with tremendous force, smashing the butt of the sword hilt into Ryoko's skull. Ryoko rocketed to the ground below, leaving a trail of blood in the air. Max too, started his decent, only he was aiming for the island.

    He landed with a large thud, and broke the stepping stone he landed on in two. He spat some blood at Kagato. "Tenchi, stand back, he's mine." said Max as he stood. Tenchi back flipped over and behind Max. "Here, you'll need this!" said Tenchi as he tossed the Master Key to Max.

    Kagato's eyes widened. "...No! You FOOL!"

    As soon as Max's fingers wrapped around the sword, a searing hot pain shot out of Max's chest. His medallion had burst into flames. Max let out a shrill cry of pain as the medallion's flame grew larger and larger. Pretty soon Maxwell was completely engulfed in flames. He fell to his knees and brought his hands up to his head. He clasped them to the side of his temples, as if he had a violent headache. His whole body began to convulse violently, and his cries of pain became more and more horrifying. Tenchi's insides sloshed about inside of him. He felt scared and disturbed as he saw his friend withering in agony in front of him. Both he and Kagato were so surprised and scared that neither of them dared to do anything. They both looked on in horror as Maxwell disappeared in the ever-growing raging blaze, that began to slowly turn from red to a bluish white flame. Maxwell's cries for help and screams of pain grew more intense and agonizing. Then in a bright flash of light, the flames were gone and Maxwell was kneeling in the water, with the Master Key still clutched in his hand. Tenchi saw an immediate change in Max. He looked stronger, and his hair was pulsing from blue to white and standing on end. Blue ribbons of electricity played all over his body. He turned to face Kagato.

    "N-No! Stay back!" screamed Kagato. He stumbled backwards and pretty soon he had nowhere to go. His back was up against the tree now and he was trembling with fear. Max continued his walk toward Kagato. Each stepping stone he stepped on his way toward Kagato, immediately exploded as soon as his foot left it. Then a pulse of energy came from the medallion hanging around his neck and surged into the Master Key. The Key changed form from a long and narrow blade, to a broad and majestic greatsword. Max then held it above his head and a blue bolt of lightning came ripping down out of the sky, through the sword, and into Maxwell's body. Max then pointed a open hand at Kagato and a small blue orb of energy materialized.

    Kagato looked at the glowing blue medallion around Maxwell's neck. "So...This is the 'Ultimate Power?' ...I cannot believe I was naive enough to think that the Master Key was it..." He looked up at Maxwell and smirked. "You've won boy...But, I'll be back to haunt you."

    Maxwell snarled and fired the blue bolt of energy at Kagato. He was incinerated instantaneously. Then, Max dropped the Master Key. As soon as it left his fingertips three things happened; the sword returned to its original form, the medallion stopped glowing, and Maxwell's hair and body returned to it's normal form.

    Max collapsed back to his knees and Tenchi came running to his side. "You know Tenchi..." started Maxwell. "That hurt like a mutha fugger..." And with that, Maxwell again returned to the world of unconsciousness.

    Max opened his eyes. He cussed when he saw the white light. He sat up in the bed and looked around. "Dammit, this is getting old." He hopped from the bed, and pulled all the tubes and bandages from his body. He walked over to his table of things and got dressed. He turned around and saw Washu with her hands on her hips. Max rolled his eyes. "...It's not what it looks like."

    "Uh-huh." said Washu.

    "Really." said Maxwell. "I wasn't going to leave. Honest."

    Washu jumped up and grabbed Max by the ear. She pulled him back over to the bed and made him sit down. "What did I say?" asked Washu.

    Max blinked a few times, trying to remember. "You said not to...Strain myself?"

    "Correct. And you know what you did?"

    "...Made a mess?"

    "NO! You strained yourself!" Washu began to loose her patience.

    Max chuckled. "I did not. It may have looked like I strained myself...To an UNTRAINED eye. But in all reality I was just taking a quick nap."

    "A nap?! You mean to tell me you can nap for twelve days straight?"

    "I was out for twelve days?! ...er... I mean, yes, of course I can."

    Washu moaned an turned around. "Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?" she asked.

    "Worried? ...About me?" Max was a little confused. "But, why? ...I mean I hardly know any of you, and the only person I really know is Tenchi, and then again I haven't seen him in four years, so it's not like he'd fret too much over me."

    Washu spun around. "Well, you're wrong."

    Max stretched his arms. "And all this time I thought I was cannon fodder!" He looked at Washu for a moment. "...But... Why?"

    "Isn't it obvious?" asked Washu. "You're apart of the family now."

    Max whistled. "Family, eh? ...I can barely remember what it's like... To belong in a family..." Max gazed solemnly, almost mournfully into nothingness.

    "Oh...Max...You poor thing..." Washu's eyes grew big with tears and compassion.

    Max cocked an eyebrow. "...W-Wait a minute! *sweatdrop* I-I know that look...! Wha...What in the? ...No! You've just got a bad case of the Nightingale Syndrome...C'mon now. It's...nothing serious here. *gulp* ...Washu...I don't think we should be--" but Max didn't quite finish his statement. Washu pounced on him like a hungry cat on an injured mouse. It was quite some time before either one of them spoke full sentences or even used real words.

    Tenchi walked over to the door to Washu's lab but the door opened before he even touched it. Washu was on the other side. She had opened the door a few seconds before Tenchi did. She stepped out into the living room and Tenchi saw her face was quite flushed, her eyes were glazed over, and her clothes and hair were very disheveled. She bumped into Tenchi and looked up. She smiled and walked over to the couch and plopped down. She let out a long sigh.

    The rest of the girls, already in the living room, were sitting about in various places and just starred at Washu.

    Tenchi finally spoke up. "...How's Max doing?"

    "He's...fine." answered Washu slowly. "But...He's gonna need a few minutes more rest." She laid down on the couch and smiled gently as she shut her eyes.

    Ryoko sat there from across the room and looked at Washu. She was a little perplexed at first, seeing Washu act like that, but it didn't take long for her to catch on. Ryoko gasped.

    Tenchi and the others all asked what was it but Ryoko didn't hear them. She was focused on Washu. Ryoko finally spoke up. "Washu! Shame on you!! ...You didn't?! ...Did you...?"

    Washu giggled. "I did...Twice..."

    "Eeeeewwwwwg! That's not right!" Ryoko shuddered as she got up and turned around to leave the room.

    Sasami stood up. "What it is Ryoko? What did Washu do?"

    Ryoko shut her eyes and tried to clear her mind of the current train of thought. "Trust me kid... You don't...want to know..."

    A few hours later Maxwell had emerged from the lab. Tenchi and the others were glad to see him up and about. Yosho and Nobiyuki were also there. "Hey, guys! What's up?" He looked out at the crowd. "Um, okay, I can see you guys are kinda curious as to what's gone down, huh?"

    They all nodded.

    "Okay, some of what I told you is true, and some of it...was a lie. But I lied because I thought it'd be in your best interest. But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?"

    Yosho nodded. "Why don't you start from the beginning, Max? I'm sure you've figured it out already."

    "Alright then. Here goes. As you guys know, Ryoko here, attacked Jurai, roughly 700 years ago, correct?"

    They all nodded.

    "Okay, then I take it you all know Washu's Ryoko's mother. And when Kagato captured Washu, he too captured Ryoko. Both were put under his control. We know he did this because he wanted to find the Master Key, because he believed it was the 'Ultimate Power.'"

    "Yeah, yeah, we know this already!" said Ryoko.

    "Good. But what you don't know is that Yosho and Kagato are brothers. Now I've pieced together enough information to get to this conclusion. Kagato knew that the King of Jurai had the Master Key that he wanted. So in order to get the Master Key he staged his own death, by having Ryoko attack Jurai. Yosho became enraged by this and got permission to have the Master Key, and chased after Ryoko, all the way here to Earth, Kagato's favorite vacationing spot. He didn't count on Yosho winning. When Yosho beat Ryoko he fled to the farthest corners of the galaxy to become more powerful to beat Yosho and get the Master Key. Now like I said, this was Kagato's favorite planet. He met a girl here and they had a son. My father. Kagato trained my father to be his successor. But, my father saw his father's evil ways and ran away. He hid here on Earth, since this would be the last place Kagato would look for him. When he left Kagato, my father stole a bunch of his money and supplies. My medallion was one of things Kagato managed to swipe form Jurai before he left. It wasn't until after Tenchi beat Kagato the first time that he realized that the Master Key wasn't the Ultimate Power. And that's when he found out about the Master Seal...My medallion. He looked around the universe trying to find the Seal and my father. But way before Kagato knew of the Seal, my father had figured it out. He took a fake seal with him, and gave me the real seal when I was but a small child. That was over 13 years ago. Anyway, a few years ago, four to be precise, my mother recieved a letter from father. It was his death letter. She would have only gotten it if he had died. So, when I moved away to the USA, well, we really moved to Outer Space and became Cargo Frieghters. Then about a month ago, Nagi and one of her buddies attacked me and mom. Nagi killed mom, but I managed to kill her friend. I escaped in a small space shuttle and went to the only place I knew, and that was here, Tenchi, here on Earth and with you guys."

    "But I don't get it... How'd you figure all of this out?" asked Tenchi.

    "Well, I figured out the link between my Seal and Jurai when I was falling of the building in Okayama. And I figured the rest out, when I was empowered by the Master Seal. It gave me knowledge as well as power."

    "Oh! That reminds me..." started Tenchi. "What happened to you back there?"

    "Okay, the Master Key, really is a key. It unlocks the Ultimate Power that was sealed within the Master Seal. The Seal was unlocked when I took a hold of the Master Key."

    "Aha! I get it now!" Said Tenchi. "And that's why Grandpa told Kagato that the sword wasn't the Ultimate Power when he tried to take the sword the first time!"

    "That is correct my boy!" said Yosho.

    Max laughed. "Well, now that everything's all said and done...What now?"

    Yosho took on a much more serious look now. "Tenchi, Maxwell... You both have two of the most powerful weapons in the history of the galaxy. You were both destined to have them. It is a great responsibility to have them. They will burden you until the ends of your days, but what you do with them...Is up to you."

    Max cracked his neck and stretched his arms. "Well, clearly these things are just too damn dangerous to just throw away. So I'm sure as hell gonna hold on to my Master Seal. Besides, I kinda like this whole Hero business. I really like the 'medical coverage' that goes with it as well." Max winked at Washu, "So, I've decided... To hang on to my medallion until I find a way to destroy it."

    "Same here!" said Tenchi. "These things are not safe. They were never intended to bring about peace and love, only chaos and death. They are safe as long they are with us, but we will not be around forever. They need to be destroyed!"

    Yosho looked pleased with the answers. "So. Your new quest is to destroy the Seal and Key?"

    Tenchi and Max nodded.

    "Good! Then pack your bags, boys, cause' you're leaving ASAP!"

    "What?!" yelled Tenchi and Max.

    Yosho laughed. "Just kidding. You guys won't have to worry about that quite yet. You are too young to be worrying about the fate of the universe. You should be out having fun, like normal kids."

    They all laughed. "But..." started Maxwell. "What is to become of me? I've no place to go. This is the only place for me. But I do not wish to burden you guys with yet another mouth to feed, and person to shelter."

    "Nonsense!" said Nobiyuki and the others.

    "Maxwell," said Yosho. "You can stay here, as long as you want to."

    "Really?"

    "Really, really."

    Max choked back some tears. "...Th-Thank you guys so much! Don't worry, I'll do my fair share of work, and all that good stuff!"

    Tenchi stood up and extended his hand towards Max. "Welcome to the family, Maxwell!"

    Max took Tenchi's hand and shook it. "Thanks, Tenchi. Thank you so much!"

    Ryoko stepped in between Tenchi and Max. An evil grin slipped on her face. "Everything may be find and dandy now. But I owe you a good thumping, Max."

    "...What?"

    Ryoko rubbed the top of her head. "I was out for nearly as long as you were buddy boy. You didn't have to hit me so hard you know. Next time we fight, you'll be the one KOed."

    Max swallowed hard. "Next time we fight?"

    "Yup. Like I said, I owe you a good thrashing." Ryoko smiled innocently and made the peace sign with her fingers as she turned around and left the room. "It'll be coming when you least expect it."

    Maxwell felt a little dizzy and let out a moan. The only reason why he had beaten Ryoko was because she was under a restrictive mind control device. On her own, Ryoko would beat the pants off of him under five minutes and she wouldn't even break a sweat. Max felt like crying. The remembrance of what it felt like to be hurt popped back into his mind. Since his time here on Earth he's spent more time being injured then healthy. And that reminded him of one last loose end.

    "Hey, guys, what about Nagi? What happened to her?" he asked.

    Washu turned around and looked over the back of the couch to Maxwell. "We think she's dead, by the account Tenchi and grandpa gave us. But we didn't find a body."

    Max put his hands in his pockets. "Well, dead or alive, I don't think we're gonna be seeing to much of her..." Then a light bulb went off in Washu's head. "Wait, that reminds me. When you and Nagi were on the roof, what happened? A bounty hunter like that wouldn't have thrown you off of that building unless she knew you were dead. What did you say to her, to make her so volatile?"

    Maxwell looked around the room. "Well, uh...*sweatdrop* Sit down, it's gonna take a while."

    The Misaki house was up util the wee hours of the morning. Everybody stayed up late into the night talking and laughing and playing games. The kareoke machine was a blast, and Sasami's cooking was the best. The 'tea' was excellent and everybody had a good time. As hard as he thought Maxwell couldn't remember anything about a "Welcome to The Family" Party. Birthday Parties, Going Away Parties... But a Welcome into the Family party? Max wasn't to accustomed with Japanese tradition, but he was pretty sure they had just made that up. But it didn't bug him, he have a good time nonetheless.

    When everybody had finally fallen asleep, Maxwell climbed out into the roof. He laid there on his back, gazing up at the stars. "A family...and a home... Heh... I finally belong..." He shut his eyes and a small smile crept upon his face. He laid there for a few minutes in the crisp night air but before to long he slowly drifted to sleep.

-- Fin

Next time, on Tenchi Muyo!: The Adventures of Tenchi and Max: Maxwell just can't keep his mouth shut and makes a bet with the girls. Of course, he looses the bet so the girls all go out and watch a movie while Tenchi and Maxwell get stuck with all the chores. The movie depicts a girl who likes a guy, and to get the guy's attention she made him jealous by dating a different guy. This spawns a devious plan among the girls. So to get Tenchi to like them better, they're going to try a little "Reverse Psychology" of their own! Poor Maxwell! Will the girls' plan be a success or will it just drive Max nuts? Find out next time on Tenchi Muyo!: The Adventures of Tenchi and Max: No Need for Movies!