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Journeys of Time 8: The Test of Loyalty and Respect

This story is copyrighted to SashaWS/ArtisticEastern, containing characters owned by various people used with permission.

Any usage or posting of this story under the claim of being your own is not approved and you will be requested to remove it or face charges.

The happy roars alerted Tenchi, who stood and served some wyverns their lunch, that she was about to get some love. Without a second thought popping up in her mind, she was quickly moving to the side as the speeding bullet of thunder rushed up next to her and bumped the muzzle against the fence to the wyverns, giving Tenchi a soft giggle, "Careful, Arashi. You do not want to crash through the fence, do you?" The only reply she got was a soft growl and the feeling as Arashi gently bit down on her finger, something that Tenchi was used to by now.

Taking a last good look at the wyverns that now stood and ate their food, Tenchi reached over to give them a rub along the necks as they calmly murred before she let them have their snack in peace. She did notice Kichiro sitting with the Lavascale wyverns, the ones she had learned to keep calm around due to their bizarre nature. Giving him a look, she could see him throwing them their food like rewards while one of them had its head in his lap and seemed to truly enjoy the attention as he gave many belly rubs. Tenchi had never understood how he even dared to sit with them and asking him was not working as he only replied the same thing to her over and over again, "It is something that comes natural to me, it is something that can not be taught."

Just giving them another look, she soon headed to the next group of wyverns that needed their meal. She had been assigned to feed the western nesting grounds that day, so she had not been ready for the walk she had to take up a rocky hill. She cursed them for having forbidden her the use of her wings, since most wyverns could see her as a potential meal, or at least the ones at the western nesting grounds. It wasn't like she was alone, because her tail was a little stretched when Arashi was following her with the tip in her maw, behaving like it was a leash.

The walk had been quite a bit, but the view that welcomed Tenchi had made up for most of it. Standing near the cliff-sides of the nesting grounds were five beautiful light-yellow, quad-winged giant wyverns that looked like they were the divines of the wyvern world, hence their name to the breeders, "Divinescale Wyverns. Oh, now that is a pretty wyvern." A soft growl of disapproval reminded Tenchi that she wasn't alone, "You are pretty too, Arashi." Arashi growled happily before walking up next to her as the giants made their way closer and Tenchi brought out their food from the bag she had taken along for the walk and placed in the massive bowls. Their meal was a newly butchered cow, a good enough substitute for their normal diet of Silkskin wyverns.

Tenchi had put the final cow in the bowl when she saw the giants lean down eat, allowing Tenchi to study them closer, "Four of them have two wings on the forehead and the last one has four, so this is a little harem." Arashi sniffed the cow that one of the wyverns was eating and soon moved away as she didn't like the smell at all, making Tenchi giggle, "Not to your liking, Arashi?"

Tenchi soon felt a muzzle bumping her shoulder and looked at a female that seemed a little in pain, "What is wrong, girl?" The female opened up her maw to show a bone that had stabbed itself into her gums of her fangs, "Awww, you poor girl. Let me help you." Having to trust the new face quickly, the female stood still as Tenchi began to slowly remove the bone, or so she had hoped. She felt how the bone was stuck in something and tried to pull harder, much to the wyvern's unhappy situation as she was seeming to be in a great deal of pain.

Applying more strength to the bone, Tenchi soon yanked it out and smiled, "There you go, girl. It is loos... OWWWW!" Tenchi felt the jaws slam shut with her right arm getting stuck in there, her fearful screams only going louder as she was trying to pull herself free, but the jaws didn't bulge. She was about to grab the maw and force it open, but she remembered the promise she had made to not hurt any wyvern.

She looked down at Arashi, who growled very loud and very worried, making Tenchi lean down as much as she could to pet her with the cybernetic arm, "It is okay, girl. I can handle this." Tenchi looked at her and then back at the wyvern that seemed to not wanna let her arm go, looking a bit like she had mistrusted Tenchi with removing the bone painlessly.

Tenchi looked down at her arm and soon shut her eyes tightly, "Arashi, look away." The wyvern growled in confusion before Tenchi drew her sword, making the wyvern get a panic attack and jump at Tenchi, begging her to not do it. Tenchi looked at her and sighed, "I am sorry, Arashi, but it is the only way left now."

Tenchi lifted the sword and moved her arm a bit more, growling in pain before she focused all the anger into her right eye and swung the blade down, screaming in pain as she got loose from the wyvern's maw and saw the giant moving away and chewing down her arm, swallowing it as Arashi quickly got her hind-legs and grabbed Tenchi who was holding her armless right shoulder, "I am okay, girl." Tenchi tried to put on her best smile, but it was slowly dying as she lost more and more blood. Tenchi gave her loyal wyvern friend a look and soon nodded, "Arashi, bring me... back home..." Arashi quickly got down and caught Tenchi as she fell onto her back, quickly pulling her onto her back before she ran as quickly as her legs could carry her towards the main building.

"Ten-Ten!" Peridot rushed over when she noticed Arashi dumping off Tenchi near some water buckets before drinking from one. Peridot quickly got down and slapped on Tenchi's face gently, "Ten-Ten, wake up, please!" No response. Peridot quickly examined her body and found that Tenchi's right arm was missing, "What happened to you? Anyone, quick! Contact a medic!" Her voice echoed over the farm and while they were waiting, Peridot began to heal Tenchi's bleeding wound, quickly having stopped most of the bleeding, except for the smaller blood vessels.

It was then that she heard a voice nearby, "Here, let me handle that." It was Kichiro and he was holding something looking like a berry and a chili-fruit mixed together. Quickly eating the fruit, he crushed it with his tongue before pushing Peridot gently aside, slamming his teeth shut before he shot a flame from his maw, cauterizing the small blood vessels until the bleeding completely stopped, making Peridot whistle, "Not bad. I didn't expect something like that." Kichiro grabbed some leaves and dipped in the water bucket near him, gently applying each to the cauterized stump that remained and after having attached the last one, he pulled off his shirt and tore it apart to make some makeshift bandages, working quickly until the stump was wrapped up nicely, nodding to Peridot who was completely in shock from everything she had witnessed.

When Azura arrived to check on Tenchi, she was in for a surprise to find the wound having been treated already and also that the leaves had been pressed close enough for them to drain out any infections. All she had to do was to remove the leaves and then smear a salve on the stump before pulling on a sock-like bandage over it and telling Peridot to not let Tenchi remove it at any cost.

It was evening when Tenchi came back to the world of living again, her eyes having to adjust to being open again, then to the light that filled the room until she could see Peridot's face, "Ten-Ten, you are awake!" Tenchi smiled as she reached out and noticed only her cybernetic arm responding and the reality kicked in for her, "My arm." Peridot nodded, "I am sorry, Ten-Ten. You came without the arm, so we couldn't do anything about it." Tenchi nodded before she noticed something moving up next to her and from under the duvet came Arashi's muzzle and then her head as she growled softly in a whimper and laid her head onto Tenchi's cybernetic arm, but just enough to allow Tenchi to scratch along her back, "You were a good girl, Arashi."

Peridot nodded, "She brought you back to us and then didn't wanted to leave your side. What happened exactly?" Tenchi began to tell about the wyvern that she had tried to help with removing a bone and instead had ended up with getting her arm bitten down upon and her decision to cut her own arm off. The last part made Peridot cringe when she imagined how desperate she had been to do that. But as long as she was alive, she didn't complain.

It was then that a voice spoke to them, "Perhaps the voices of the wise ones can help." Tenchi and Peridot looked into the corner of the room where Faarg was sitting, his eyes looking at them both before he stood up and walked closer with something behind his back. Peridot felt herself freeze in fear, but soon it softened when Faarg reached up and attached what seemed to be a bio-cybernetic adapter on Tenchi's right shoulder before he worked with attaching something more and soon nodded as he moved back, "Now, try and lift your arm."

Tenchi didn't even question why and perhaps it was the best decision she had made, when she saw a similar arm and hand greeting her and Faarg nodded, "From the Creators to you, make sure you are using it well. We already 'handed' instructions over to Sasha so she can help you upgrade it. Get it? Handed?" Tenchi and Peridot just looked like it wasn't even the best pun and Faarg sighs, "Wow, tough crowd. Well, no need for me to stay here now. Take care you two."

And without ceremony, Faarg disappeared, leaving Tenchi with Peridot and Arashi. Arashi and Peridot were a little busy watching Tenchi getting used to the new arm before they both murred as they found themselves in a tight hug with her and Tenchi knew what was the next thing to do. With the right arm extending out, she grabbed her cellphone and speed-dialed the number to the one that she would spend more time with now together with Peridot and Arashi, "Hey mom Sasha? I wanna do some upgrades."

The End.