Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Gravity of Love ❯ Cycle-1.3: And the Walls Came Down ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo, but I'm saving my money and one day I will own it. So don't sue me because some day I'll be your boss. Oh yeah, I didn't create Tenchi Muyo either, some guys named Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi did. I don't own the song Gravity of Love either. This song was written and performed by Enigma and is on their album, Screen Behind the Mirror. I'd like to thank them for helping inspire this fic and I hope they don`t sue me (especially after I just plugged them). Any way on to the fic.

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Tenchi Muyo!

Gravity of Love

Cycle 1.3

And the Walls Came Down

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Ryoko phased through the wall of Ayeka and Sasami's room. She hovered over to Mayuka's crib, not daring to make a sound lest she wake the three sleeping princesses. She stopped over the crib and watched the infant sleep.

It always calmed her down to see Mayuka. She wasn't even angry with Washu anymore.

<Ryoko! > she heard through her mind. The voice in her mind was panicked.

<Washu? > she asked mentally. There was no answer. Oh well, it was probably nothing, just her imagination.

* * *

That morning Mihoshi watched Mayuka busily explore the family room. She couldn't crawl yet. She got around by rolling over. Any object that she found, such as toys or dust bunnies, went straight to her mouth. She kept a sharp eye on her to make sure that she didn't put anything in her mouth that she wasn't supposed to.

Ryo-ohki sat in the doorway, watching Mayuka intently. For some reason Ryo-ohki avoided Mayuka, she wouldn't enter the same room with her unless she was in her crib or was held by someone.

At the table Ayeka yawned before taking a sip of her tea. She could sympathize with her friend's fatigue. The baby must have kept her up most of the night. Tonight she would be the one who would be awake in the middle of the night taking care of Mayuka. Well she didn't have it quite as bad as Ayeka, she and Kiyone would share in childcare duties tonight.

"Breakfast time everyone," Sasami announced from the kitchen.

Mihoshi picked up the infant, who had just spit out a cloud of dust, and carried her to the table.

* * *

"Breakfast time," Washu heard someone say.

Washu sat up and opened her eyes. She was in fairly large room, twice the size of any bedroom in the Masaki home. The bed she sat in was enormous by earth standards and someone had apparently taken the trouble of tucking her in. She quickly observed her surroundings. The walls were painted a dull gray, but the paintings that were hung around room added some amount of color. The furniture appeared to be of high quality and consisted of the usual sorts of dressers, chairs, a desk, etc. She saw Kiagara standing in the doorway and carrying what looked to be a tray of food.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked.

"On my ship, the Dan'yaku, now eat up before your food gets cold," she said sweetly.

"How the hell did you trap me?"

"I used a force field."

"That's impossible," she stated. "I didn't detect any force field generator anywhere with in range that could've trapped me."

"Oh, it's possible. I've invented a force field generator that has a range thousands of times greater than a standard generator," she explained. She placed the tray on the table.

"Okay, that explains how you surprised me. How'd you knock me out?"

"I used a force field to temporary stop the flow of blood to certain portions of your brain then I used drugs to keep you unconscious."

"All right then, why did you kidnap me?" Washu grated.

"To bring you to Tokimi," Kiagara stated, "It's nothing personal, it's just what I have to do. You didn't want come with so I had to force you to come with. Don't worry I won't hurt you and neither will Tokimi. I know you're probably mad at me but trust me it's for the greater good." She got out of the bed and stepped toward Kiagara. Kiagara turned to face her. "Don't even think about using that sword or any of your other powers. You won't be able to penetrate my defenses."

"You bitch," cursed Washu.

Kiagara sighed. "I can see that you don't want me around. I'll be going then."

* * *

Everybody had gathered around the table for breakfast, except for Washu and Kiagara.

"Ryoko, will you go get Washu and Miss Kiagara for me?" Sasami asked.

"Why should I?" asked Ryoko. She hated going into that stupid lab.

"Please Ryoko," she pleaded.

"Fine," grumbled Ryoko as she teleported from the dining room to the guest room.

She quickly scanned the room. There was no one there. Kiagara was probably laughing it up with Washu right now.

The world went black as she disappeared from the guest room and reappeared in Washu's lab. "Hey Washu, it's time for breakfast," She called out. There was no answer. She teleported to another part of the lab and tried calling out again. There was still no answer. Ryoko shrugged. They were probably working on some secret experiment right now and didn't want to be disturbed. She teleported back to the dining room.

* * *

Kiyone was beginning to get worried. It was now nearing dinnertime and no one had seen Washu or Kiagara all day. It wasn't unusual for Washu to disappear for a while to work on a complex experiment but there had always left some kind of note behind telling everyone where she was, however this time there was no note to be found.

She entered Washu's lab intent on finding the scientist. But instead of looking for Washu the old fashioned way (which could take weeks given the size of the lab) she would use Washu's own equipment to find her.

She sat on the same floating cushion that Washu had always sat on. She held her hands out to type like she had seen Washu do before. Nothing happened. She thought for a second and then tried mentally willing the transparent display into existence, to her surprise the black holotop computer appeared in front of her.

The display asked for a password. Kiyone tried typing in "Ryoko." The display told her that the password was incorrect. She tried a few more passwords, the names of everybody in the house, carrots, crabs, science, the names of all their different ships, light hawk wings, names she had heard Washu call Mihoshi, etc. None of them seemed to work.

She sat back in thought for moment. She couldn't think of any more passwords. If she knew Washu's birth date she would have tried that, but Washu kept such information to herself.

Suddenly an idea came to her. It was so simple and obvious that she wondered why she hadn't thought of it before. Kiyone got up and left the lab. She found Mihoshi asleep on the couch. She sighed and proceeded to shake her partner awake. "Mihoshi, Mihoshi, wake up."

Mihoshi turned over, yawned, smacked her lips a few times and opened her eyes. "What is it Kiyone?"

"I need your help in Washu's lab," Kiyone explained.

"But I'm not allowed to go into the lab with out Washu's permission," Mihoshi protested.

"These are special circumstances," explained Kiyone. "So it's okay if you go in there."

"Oh, okay," said Mihoshi as she got up.

They returned to the lab. Kiyone motioned for Mihoshi to sit on the floating cushion. She obeyed and gave her partner a questioning look. "So what do you want me to do?" she asked.

"I want you to see if you can guess Washu's password," she said as she pointed to the holotop.

"All right, I'll try but I don't think I'll be able to," said Mihoshi doubtfully.

Mihoshi tried the same sorts of things Kiyone did before and the computer kept telling her that the password was incorrect. She became frustrated and began typing things in at random.

"Password confirmed," the screen displayed. "Sample extraction."

"Hey I did it!" Mihoshi beamed.

"Thanks Mihoshi," Kiyone said gladly. "Now let me us it." They switched places.

"What are you trying to do?" Mihoshi asked.

"I'm trying to see if I can use Washu's equipment to find her," Kiyone explained. "She didn't leave us any information on where she would be and I'd like to make sure that she's safe."

"Are you sure it's okay to be using the lab like this?"

"I'm only going to use it to find Washu. I'm not going to use it for anything else."

"Why can't we just use Yagami's sensors?"

"Because Yagami's sensors aren't able to see into Washu's lab, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

She explored the computer looking for what would help her in her quest. She thought she had gotten access to Washu's sensor grid. She accessed to the function labeled "locate person or object." She typed in "Washu" as the subject of her search. "Washu is not in the lab at this time." She tried it again. "Washu is not in the lab at this time." Kiyone frowned and tried typing in "Kiagara" as the subject of her search. "Kiagara is not in the lab at this time." Just to make sure everything was working she typed in herself as the subject. "Detective Kiyone is at the main computer access point." She frowned again and expanded the search to include the entire solar system. "Neither Washu nor Kiagara can be found in this solar system."

"Damn it," Kiyone cursed.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I can't find her anywhere; she's not in this system."

"Well then… we should trying looking for her."

"Yes, but where do we start? She could be anywhere by now."

"Well… let's start with obvious places like the science academy."

* * *

Washu had tried just about everything to escape. She tried calling for her holotop. It never arrived. She tried mentally calling her daughter. She got no response. She tried switching places with one of her "Washu Dolls." She couldn't do it. She tried manually hacking the door lock, but only got a nasty shock and a warning from Kiagara. She even tried firing an energy blast at the door, but Kiagara's force fields were simply to strong for her to penetrate.

There was only one option left to her. Washu bit down hard. Inside one of her molars was an emergency distress beacon. When it was activated it would send a signal to her lab and the entire Masaki home. After that it would serve as locator so the others could find her. It wouldn't send a signal till Kiagara send out any communications, and then it would disguise the signal as part of Kiagara's own transmission.

She heard a clicking sound. The message had been sent. Now all she had to do was wait for the others to come, and punish herself for being so stupid.

* * *

"Wait a minute, before we call the science academy let's try to see if Ryoko can contact Washu through their mental link," Kiyone said.

"Yeah, that would take less time," agreed Mihoshi.

"All right, let's go find Ryoko and…"

Kiyone was interrupted by a loud beeping sound. She turned to see the holotop flashing.

"Oh no, what did I do?" Mihoshi blubbered.

"You didn't do anything," Kiyone said.

The holotop stopped flashing and Washu's smiling face appeared on the screen. "Hello," the recording began. "If your watching this message than either there's been a mishap at the dentist or I've been kidnapped, probably the first one. In either case you guys will need to come rescue me. To find me just follow the locator signal to where ever I am. I've installed signal finders in both Ryo-ohki and the Yagami and if Ryu-oh is up running then I've put one in there to. So you should have no trouble finding me." The screen went blank.

"Tell everyone to meet me in the front room in fifteen minutes," Kiyone said resolutely.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later everybody had gathered in the front room, listening to Kiyone as she told them exactly what had happened to Washu.

"I knew that bitch was up to something," said Ryoko.

"Hold on Ryoko, we don't know that it was Kiagara who kidnapped Washu. As far as we know they both could have been kidnapped," explained Kiyone.

"What should we do?" Sasami asked, teary-eyed.

"We have to go save Washu," Tenchi said sternly. "There's nothing else we can do."

"But how do we find her?" asked Ayeka.

"Washu has been sending out a signal to help us locate her," explained Kiyone.

"There is merely one problem," Kasuhito stated. "Who ever kidnapped Washu may have reached their destination by now. You may be forced to attack a heavily defended position."

"It's a risk we have to take," said Tenchi. "I'm not going to abandon Washu."

"Same here," said Kiyone.

Mihoshi stood up quickly. "It is my duty to protect citizens from any sort of harm."

"I am going as well," said Ayeka.

"Well someone has to go who knows what they're doing," commented Ryoko. "I'll go to."

"Me too!" exclaimed Sasami.

Everyone turned to Sasami. Ayeka got down on one knee in front of Sasami and placed her hands on the little princess's shoulders. "Sasami, it's dangerous," explained Ayeka. "You're to young to go with us."

"But I can help," protested Sasami. "I helped with Kagato and Yuzuha. What's so different now that I can't help?"

"You could only help with Yuzuha because she kidnapped you," said Ayeka. "I would not have let go to rescue Mayuka either. You haven't developed your powers yet; if we took you with you wouldn't be able to do anything. You'd just get in the way and put yourself and us in danger."

"But-" said Sasami.

"You are going to stay here," ordered Ayeka. "Please Sasami, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you."

Sasami nodded hesitantly. "Okay, I'll stay here."

"Well, since you're all going I suppose that I must stay here to take of Sasami and Mayuka," said Kasuhito.

"Thanks grandpa," said Tenchi. "I'll go call Dad and tell him where we are."

* * *

A few minutes later everybody was gathered outside and ready. Yagami and Ryo-ohki hovered in the sky, waiting. Tenchi and Ayeka were in their Jurain battle armor. Ryoko was in her red and black skintight war suit. Kiyone and Mihoshi were dressed in their Galaxy Police combat armor. Kiyone's armor was slightly different from Mihoshi's, where Mihoshi's was purple Kiyone's was a dark blue.

"Whoever kidnapped Washu has gotten a head start on us. It may take us a couple of days before we can catch up," explained Kiyone. "Mihoshi and I will take the Yagami; the rest of you can take Ryo-ohki."

Tenchi walked over Kasuhito, who was holding Mayuka, to say goodbye to his daughter. "Now Mayuka-"

"Tenchi," Kasuhito said. Tenchi looked up at his grandfather. Kasuhito slammed a fist into Tenchi's head. "Keep your guard up."

"Jeez," said Tenchi as he rubbed his head. He turned and ran towards where Ryoko was standing.

Sasami rushed over Ayeka and wrapped her arms around her older sister's legs nearly causing her to trip. "You will come back? You promise that you will come back, right?"

Ayeka placed a hand on top of Sasami's head. "Of course, I promise that I'll be back. We'll be back here before you know it, you'll see."

"You promise?"

Ayeka nodded and smiled. "I promise."

"C'mon Ayeka," yelled Ryoko. "Let's go!"

Ayeka pried her younger sister off of her and ran towards Tenchi and Ryoko. "Don't worry about us, you'll see us all again," She called out as ran.

The light enveloped Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka as they where brought aboard Ryo-ohki. The two ships disappeared into the distance. Sasami chased after them till she reached the lake's edge.

"Remember you promised!" Sasami called out

* * *

Ryoko lifted up one of the tiles on Ryo-ohki's floor and pulled out three mattresses.

Ayeka looked at her strangely. "Ryoko what are you doing?" she asked thinking Ryoko had things that were… impure on her mind.

"Why, do you have something interesting in mind princess?" Ryoko smiled.

"I most certainly do not!" replied Ayeka.

"I always knew you had a kinky side to you Ayeka," Ryoko smiled again.

"Hmmph, it would figure that one such you would give in to such base perversion," Ayeka said haughtily.

Ryoko kneeled on one the mattresses and slid forward till she was on all fours. "You're the one that made the suggestion." She smiled seductively.

"W-w-what are you saying?!" shouted Ayeka.

Tenchi sighed; he knew he had to diffuse this situation before it became any worse. He placed his hand on Ayeka's shoulder to calm her down. She blushed and clasped her hands in front of her. He then turned to Ryoko. "Ryoko, what are the mattresses for?" He asked.

Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the sight of Tenchi's hand on Ayeka's shoulder. "Kiyone said that it might take us a couple of days to catch up with Washu. We'll need to be well rested if we have to fight and I thought that it would be better than sleeping on the floor."

Tenchi took his hand off Ayeka's shoulder. "Good idea Ryoko."

"Now I have an even better idea," Ryoko said as she placed one mattress at the far end of Ryo-ohki and two on the other side. "These two will be ours Tenchi and that one will be Ayeka's."

Tenchi blushed. "Um, Ryoko I don't think that…"

Ayeka interrupted him. "I don't think so." She carefully rearranged the mattresses in a neat row placing them about a meter apart. "Tenchi will sleep in the middle, I will sleep on the right, and you will sleep on left," she said to Ryoko.

Tenchi sighed in relief. "That suits me," he said.

"Fine, I guess that's okay," sighed Ryoko. "But I'd think we'd have more fun if we pushed all three together, right Ayeka?"

"How can you think of such things when we're in the middle of a crisis?" Ayeka asked.

Ryoko sat down on her mattress and smiled at Ayeka. "C'mon princess, it'll relieve your stress and these things are plenty big for two." She patted the mattress. "I'm sure Tenchi wouldn't mind watching."

"I would never allow you to touch me in such a manner!" replied Ayeka.

Ryoko teleported in front of Ayeka. "I know that you uptight types always turn out perverted in the end, might as well come out and say it now."

Ayeka turned red with rage. "Listen here, I would never in a million years allow you to…"

Tenchi sighed as Ayeka continued to shout at Ryoko. `This is going to be a very long trip.'

* * *

There was one noise that Kiyone had simply learned to drown out, having lived with it for so many years, Mihoshi's snoring. She still marveled at Mihoshi's ability to sleep anywhere and at anytime. She slept on the couch, in front of the shrine, out in the middle of carrot patch and right now in her chair abroad the Yagami.

Kiyone wasn't mad at Mihoshi. She was considering going to sleep herself. It had been hours since they had left earth and it would be days before they caught up to the kidnappers. It wasn't necessary for her to be awake during this time; Yagami would fly itself until they came into weapons range. On top of that there was nothing for her to do, Mihoshi was the only other person onboard and she was asleep.

Kiyone shrugged and headed off to her quarters.

* * *

Ryoko watched Tenchi sleep. The ship was quite right now. The only sound was Tenchi lightly breathing (well Ayeka did occasionally mutter something about Tenchi, herself, and butter in her sleep, but Ryoko tried not to pay attention). She found it to be very soothing.

Tenchi began to stir in his sleep. He was about to wake up. Ryoko closed her eyes and tried to pretend to be asleep. She knew Tenchi didn't like it when she watched him sleeping. He might get mad if he caught her.

"Hey Ryoko," Tenchi whispered.

Ryoko yawned and opened an eye to look at him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked.

"There is no bathroom," she answered.

"There's no bathroom!"

"Shhhh, do you want to wake up Ayeka?" Ryoko hissed. "There's no bathroom on board, I don't need it remember?"

"Well then how am I supposed to…"

"There's a waste disposal unit in the engine room. Just lift the cover and go."

Tenchi sighed. "I guess have no choice. Um, what does it look like? So I don't make a mistake."

"It's a red cylinder, same size as a garbage can," Ryoko explained.

"Thanks Ryoko," said Tenchi as he got up. Ryoko watched him leave.

"No Tenchi rub it on there," muttered Ayeka in her sleep.

Ryoko sighed to herself and was thankful that Tenchi wasn't there to hear that, he would probably get a nosebleed if he did. Ayeka would deny that she ever talked like that in her sleep. She would deny that she had ever even had such dreams. She would say that she wouldn't touch Tenchi in such a manner until they were married. That she would wait, and maybe she would (not that she would ever give her the chance to be with Tenchi). However, Ryoko knew that part Ayeka would like nothing more than to tie Tenchi down and ravish him (she had heard the stories about Juraian women). She had seen how Ayeka looked at Tenchi. She smelled Ayeka's pheromones whenever she was close to him. Fortunately for her Tenchi wasn't able to pick up on any of these signs, but then again he rarely picked up Ryoko's own signs of interest. If Tenchi weren't so sweet at times his denseness and naiveté would be really annoying.

Tenchi returned from the "bathroom."

"Did everything work out okay?" Ryoko asked.

"Um… yeah, everything worked out fine," Tenchi answered.

"Good, I'll ask Washu to put a bathroom in. Since I'm not the only one using Ryo-ohki anymore," said Ryoko

"Do you think that Washu's okay?" Tenchi asked.

"I don't know, I can't contact her through our mental link," Ryoko explained. "Don't worry, she's probably not dead."

Tenchi smiled. "You've changed so much."

"What are talking about? I'm the same old Ryoko I always was."

"No you're not," explained Tenchi. "You're different than you were before, you're more sensitive to the needs of others and you can admit to caring about others."

"I never said I cared about Washu. I think she's annoying as hell. She's so meddlesome and bitchy."

"Well that might be true but you said you were worried about her safety."

"Well… Sasami would cry if she died."

Tenchi laughed. "See you do care," stated Tenchi. "You're different than before. You've become more considerate."

"I am not going soft," Ryoko snapped.

"It's not a bad thing," Tenchi explained. "It's just a change, that's all."

Ayeka giggled in her sleep. "Oh Tenchi, you do that so well, please continue."

Tenchi turned over and looked at Ayeka. "What's with her?" he asked.

"She's dreaming about you…" Ryoko tried thinking of that wouldn't sound dirty. "Playing the piano."

"Oh, okay," Tenchi yawned. "Goodnight Ryoko."

"Goodnight Tenchi."

* * *

Kiagara tapped her fingers on the armrest of her chair on the bridge. She had to stop and refuel her ship. She sighed. She didn't like being delayed in any manner. When she set herself to a task she liked to finish it as quickly as possible.

Fortunately the Dan'yaku, her ship, didn't need to waste time at a refueling station, no pea brained attendants and idiotic docking procedures for her. The Dan'yaku could refuel itself by sucking the hydrogen off of a star's corona, an excellent time saver.

The warning signal flared on the bridge. Kiagara turned off the alarm and had the monitor focus on the disturbance.

Two ships had entered the system. One was the new class of galaxy police cruisers; the other appeared to be made entirely out of bio-crystal. `So Washu's friends have come to visit,' mused Kiagara. `I wonder how she lead them here.'

Kiagara was no warrior but she knew that Washu's friends would come here with guns blazing. A fight was the last thing she wanted. There had to be a diplomatic solution to the problem. Perhaps a good faith gesture might help sooth things over, she could let them see Washu. Let them see that Washu was not hurt, only angry. Once they had seen that maybe she could convince them to let her return to Tokimi. Kiagara sighed to herself. The whole idea didn't sound very good but if it was possible avoid a fight then it was worth trying.

No wait; forget that, she had a much better idea.

* * *

"All right bring up the ship on the monitor," Kiyone ordered.

Mihoshi nodded and pressed a few buttons on her console. The sleek form of the ship that contained Washu appeared. The shape of the ship was streamlined and reminded Kiyone of a bullet. It appeared to be cast from a single piece of metal, there were no seams on it anywhere. It was narrow at the prow and then quickly widened, giving the impression of a zeppelin. It was also about thirty times the size of the Yagami. It was beautiful.

"Weapons status?" Kiyone asked.

"Plasma weapon banks are charged, missile tubes one through ten are loaded, warheads are armed and ready, point defense lasers are set to automatic, the forward canon is loaded and ready" Mihoshi ran through the checklist.

"Good, let's prepare an attack run. Remember we only want to distract them while the others use the launch crystal from Ryo-ohki to board the ship-"

"Kiyone look!" Mihoshi said pointing toward the monitor.

Kiyone watched as the hanger bays of the larger ship opened. "Looks we got an invitation," said Kiyone.

Mihoshi nodded sharply.

* * *

Ayeka was the last to phase through Ryo-ohki and have her feet touch the hanger deck. She was ready, abet a little nervous. She had great faith in her powers to protect her and aid her in battle. She knew that the others would work with her and wouldn't let her to come to harm. The advantage was her's, not the kidnappers'.

Kiyone turned toward the assembled group. "All right, we have to stick together. We're stronger together than we are apart," she explained. "I don't want to see anyone going off alone and making flashy displays of power." She looked directly at Ryoko and Ayeka.

Ayeka understood Kiyone's concern. Kiyone and Mihoshi had no special powers to protect them and Tenchi wasn't entirely used to using his powers yet. It would be safer for them all to go together.

Mihoshi pointed toward the back wall of the hanger. "There are two doors there. Which one should we take?" asked Mihoshi.

The frame of one of the door's lit up. "Perhaps we should use that one," Ayeka suggested.

"It might be trap," said Ryoko.

"No," said Mihoshi. "I think it's someone trying to guide us to them."

"It could even be Washu for all we know," said Kiyone.

The point was quickly agreed upon

They ran through the ship, letting the lighted sections guide them. Ayeka knew that flying would be much faster but that would mean leaving Kiyone, Mihoshi and Tenchi behind and possibly place them in danger. However, a part of her wanted to zip down the hall and destroy any opposition with a fantastic show of her abilities. She knew Ryoko felt the same way. But soon she could use her given talents and feel the confidence that they gave her.

Ayeka followed Mihoshi as she turned a corner only to run straight into the blonde's back. Ayeka unintentionally knocked Mihoshi onto the floor. The presence of Mihoshi's body in front of Ayeka had caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Ow," said Mihoshi as she rubbed her nose.

"Mihoshi, why did you stop?" Ayeka yelled at her. Then she looked up and saw what the others were staring at.

"Hi guys," said Washu. "Did you miss me?"

Ayeka was speechless. The shock of a completely unhurt Washu was almost too much for her; she had been expecting the worst.

Tenchi got down on his knees and grabbed Washu by the shoulders. "Washu, is it really you?" he asked.

"Why, is there someone else as cute as me?" Washu smiled.

"We got a message from you that said you'd been kidnapped. Are you okay Washu?" Kiyone asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Washu reassured them. "The communication I sent was an accident. I came with Kiagara of my own free will."

"Why didn't you tell us that? We were worried sick about you," Ayeka complained.

Washu laughed nervously. "Sorry about that," she said. "It was a very hasty decision on my part. I didn't have time to tell anyone."

Ryoko walked up to Washu and smashed her head open. Ayeka, Tenchi, and Kiyone gasped in horror. Bits of glass and silicon danced across the floor. The tiny cuts on Ryoko's hand began to heal instantly as she pulled it out of the robot's caved in head.

"There was no link," explained Ryoko. "I tried using the mental link to see if Washu was being manipulated or if she was lying. If that had been the real Washu she would have used the link to answer me or to annoy me by now."

"How do you know that your link wasn't blocked somehow?" Ayeka admonished Ryoko. "You could have killed the real Washu!" She pinched her forehead and sighed deeply. "Do you ever think your actions through?"

"Well it's pretty obvious that she wasn't the real Washu," commented Mihoshi. Everyone turned towards the blonde detective. "Washu's right earlobe is slightly lower than her left one, while this robot's left earlobe is slightly lower than her right one."

Kiyone sighed. "It figures that you'd make an observation like that. At any rate it doesn't matter, the real Washu wouldn't leave like that without telling us. Now all we have to do is find the real Washu…" Kiyone's eyes rolled back into her head and she fell forward.

Mihoshi scrambled over to her partner. "Oh no, Kiyone! What happen…" She shuddered and collapsed on top of Kiyone.

"What's going on?!" Tenchi asked before his eyes began to roll back.

"Tenchi!" Ayeka screamed as she rushed forward. She caught him by placing her arms under his armpits. His face fell in between her breasts.

Ayeka felt something enter her head and she suddenly felt very dizzy. Her head felt like someone was trying to drive a nail into it. The world suddenly turned black. She fell to her knees stilling holding Tenchi. Reflexively she put up her force field, she and Tenchi were surrounded by protective energy. The pain disappeared.

She sighed in relief. In her arms Tenchi began to stir. He looked up at her from between her breasts. His eyes were wide, his mouth was agape and he had a trickle of blood emerging from his nose. Ayeka screamed in panic and heaved Tenchi off of her, throwing him against the inside of the force field.

Realizing that she may have hurt Tenchi she immediately apologized. "Tenchi, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay Miss Ayeka," Tenchi said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Tenchi," Ryoko said as she stuck out her chest. "Next time why don't you land somewhere that's a little more `padded,' that way you won't hurt your nose." Tenchi blushed and blood emerged from his other nostril.

Ayeka's eyes narrowed. She would let that insult slide for now; there were more important things to worry about. "And just why aren't you unconscious?"

"I was for about a second," explained Ryoko. "But I was fine right away."

"Well, whatever that was it couldn't penetrate my force field," commented Ayeka.

"Are Mihoshi and Kiyone okay?" Tenchi asked.

"Yeah," said Ryoko. "I already checked, they're still breathing."

"Miss Ayeka can you extend your force field to cover all of us in case they try that again?" said Tenchi.

Ayeka nodded and mentally willed her force field to surround all five them. Kiyone began stir underneath Mihoshi.

Kiyone screamed. "Mihoshi! What the hell are you doing?!"

Mihoshi opened her eyes and quickly sat up. "Opps."

Kiyone sat up and placed her hand on her forehead. "Just what were you trying to do?" she asked Mihoshi.

"I-I'm sorry," Mihoshi blubbered.

"It wasn't her fault," explained Tenchi as he stood up. "She fainted there."

"What happened?" asked Kiyone.

"Some one tried to knock us out one by one," explained Ryoko. "Doesn't do anything to me and Ayeka can block it out with her force field."

Kiyone stood up and then helped Mihoshi up. "Then we'll just have stick close to you, Lady Ayeka."

* * *

"Damn it," cursed Kiagara. That girl was blocking out her generators with a Juraian force field. She couldn't stop them from continuing through the ship by knocking them out anymore. A gas attack wouldn't work, because Juraian force fields can selectively filter out certain particles. She would have to slow them down by putting force fields in their path. That would buy her enough time analyze the modulation of that girl's field and penetrate it.

* * *

They continued to run down the hall but without benefit the lighted directions. Kiyone had to guess where the bridge was. On most ships the bridge was located in the front of the ship, an old habit left over from the days before space travel. But many ships had the bridge located in other parts of the ship, to keep hostile boarders guessing. So the path she was leading them down wasn't a sure thing.

Kiyone kept running in strait line until she reached a wall, an invisible wall. She cursed and rubbed the growing bump on her forehead. `A force field,' she confirmed mentally. "Ayeka, do you think you can push your way through this?" she asked.

"I suppose I could try," replied Ayeka. She stepped to the front of the group, until that point she was in the middle of the group. That position had made it easier for her to protect everyone.

Ayeka's force field crackled as she pushed it against the other force field. Perspiration beaded on her forehead. She clenched her teeth in concentration but to no avail. She stepped back panting. "I'm sorry I can't," she apologized.

"Here, let me try something," said Ryoko. She stepped forward and formed her energy sword. She thrust the blade into the wall only to find another force field running a long the wall had stopped it. "Damn it," cursed Ryoko. "What the hell is with this place?"

"Hey I know!" said Mihoshi. "I could use my control cube to disrupt the force field generators." She pulled the white pompom off her hip and pressed it in between her palms. The pink cube appeared in her hands and before Kiyone could stop her she had twisted it. "Okay let's go!" said Mihoshi as she walked through where the force field used to be.

`I'll be damned,' Kiyone thought to herself. `She actually figured out how to use that thing.'

* * *

Many force fields and control cube twistings later Kiyone and the others came to a set of doors that she thought might lead to that bridge. Of course the large metal doors that marked the bridge's entry point were shielded. Mihoshi was having greater difficulty with each shield she encountered. Every single one seemed to require more effort than the one before it to deactivate. Mihoshi made the final twist to her cube. "Got it!" she exclaimed. "Try it now Ryoko."

Ryoko nodded and pushed her fingers in between the doors. With a grunt of effort and the screech of metal being twisted and broken, the doors began sliding back into the walls. The dark interior of the bridge was revealed to them.

In the center of the bridge Kiagara sat in her captain's chair. She faced them as if she'd been waiting for their eventful appearance.

"Bitch, I knew it was you," said Ryoko as she formed her energy sword. Ryoko lunged toward the sitting woman but was stopped by an unseen force. "Damn it, not again!"

"Before you go attacking me maybe you would like to see Washu?" asked Kiagara. "I assure you that she's perfectly all right and it won't do you any good to fight me. I'm covered with layers of force fields." She turned to Ryoko. "And don't even think of teleporting, it won't do you any good."

Ryoko snarled and dissipated her energy sword.

"All right take us to Washu," Kiyone said. She patted her sidearm to indicate what would happen if she tried anything funny.

Kiagara nodded and left her chair. She walked to a door on the other side of the bridge from where they had entered. She went through it and led them down a short hallway. At the end of the hall was a luxurious room. On a bed in the middle of the room sat Washu, her eyes narrowed into a look of hate when she saw Kiagara.

"Washu?" Tenchi asked.

Washu's head shot up. "Tenchi, is that you? It is you. Thank God, get me out here!"

"I'm sorry Washu I can't let you go," explained Kiagara. "You're to important. You'll be freed after you've seen Tokimi."

"What do you mean `after'?" asked Ryoko. "Let her go now!"

"Yes, release her at once!" demanded Ayeka.

"I know what I'm doing may seem cruel, but trust me. It's for the greater good," said Kiagara.

"Trust you!?" shouted Tenchi. "You've kidnap one of our friends and you expect us to trust you!?"

"You're going have to, you don't have a choice," sighed Kiagara. "You can't stop me."

"Like hell we can't!" exclaimed Ryoko.

"You can't penetrate my defenses, remember?" asked Kiagara.

"And you can not penetrate mine," said Ayeka. "You can no more harm us than we can harm you."

"Not quite," said Kiagara. "I've been studying your force field and I've found your modulation, I can now broadcast through your field."

Ayeka took a step back. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Kiagara arched her eyebrow. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order."

Mihoshi screamed in pain. She clutched at her chest as she fell to the ground. Tears began streaming from her eyes. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed.

Kiyone leveled her gun at Kiagara. "What are you doing to her?! Stop it! Now!" she shouted.

"Kiagara, if you hurt anyone I'll make sure you never get me to Tokimi," said Washu as formed her energy sword and held to her own throat.

Kiagara nodded. Mihoshi stopped screaming, now she merely lay on the floor panting and whimpering. Tenchi and Ayeka rushed to her side. Kiyone kept her sidearm aimed at Kiagara. Ryoko had formed her energy sword and pointed it toward the blonde scientist as Washu dissipated her own.

"What did you do to her?" asked Tenchi.

"I put a tiny force field inside her, right beneath her sternum. Then I started expanding it, if I kept doing it I could have torn her from the inside out," explained Kiagara. "And I'll do it again if you don't get off my ship and leave me alone right now!"

Kiyone had had enough. "Dr. Kiagara I am placing you under arrest for kidnapping and assault against a Galaxy Police office--" Kiagara cut her off.

"You fool, didn't you hear what I just said!?" she shouted. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but if I have to I will."

Kiyone smirked. "Tell me, how many Galaxy Police cruisers do you think your ship could hold off?"

"What?"

"Do you think I didn't call for back up?" Kiyone asked. "We just got here before they did, that's all."

Kiagara's eyes narrowed. "You're lying."

"Are you willingly to take the gamble that I am?" asked Kiyone. "Kidnapping and assault against a GP officer are not light offenses, especially when the Marshall's granddaughter is involved. Even if we leave this ship now you'll still be hunted by the GP for the rest of your life."

Kiagara turned red. "I will not fail! I will complete my mission! The greater good will be served!"

"Give this up Kiagara," Washu said. She frowned at the shattered woman. "You can't win, not like this."

"Why are you making me do this Washu?" asked Kiagara. "Why can't you just agree to come with me?"

"You know why I can't," said Washu.

"No!" shouted Kiagara. "I won't fail!"

An invisible force pushed the others back. Kiyone, Mihoshi and Tenchi flew backwards, and they slammed against the wall. They slid towards the floor in an unceremonious heap. Ayeka skid backwards, flailing her arms as she tried to regain her balance. She was backed almost completely towards the wall before she found her footing. She than stood completely still, as if in intense concentration. Ryoko held out her arms as if trying to catch something. She skid backwards, but not far Ayeka, as if was holding something back by force of will alone.

"I won't fail, I won't fail, I won't fail," Kiagara repeated.

"Kiagara, stop it please!" shouted Washu.

Mihoshi was still in a great deal of pain. Still, she knew that she had to do something. She couldn't move very much but she could still reach for her side arm. Mihoshi gripped the handle and pried her weapon from its holster. She aimed and fired.

However she wasn't aiming anywhere near Kiagara. She was firing into the bridge.

Most force fields are round in shape. It's simply easier to maintain that sort of form. That allowed Mihoshi to fire into the bridge, she fired around the curve.

Most of her shots didn't make it through the doorframe; they just hit the walls of the corridor. But a couple of them made it through. That was all it took. She heard something explode in there. She hoped she'd hit what she needed to.

"What the hell did you do?!" screamed Kiagara.

Mihoshi felt her body being freed. The pressure was gone. She gasped in relief. She also felt the ship lurch to one side. Mihoshi slid across the floor into Tenchi's arms.

"Mihoshi, are you okay!?" he asked.

Mihoshi blushed "Yes, I'm okay."

The force field that kept Washu in her room came down. "Grab her!" Washu shouted as she tackled Kiagara. Ryoko and Ayeka moved toward the two struggling scientists to assist Washu. Electricity arched out of the force field emitters in to Kiagara and Washu. Ryoko and Ayeka stepped back and covered their eyes. Kiagara and Washu feel to the floor in a smoking heap.

Ayeka's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hands. Tenchi ran over the fallen women and asked if there were okay. Mihoshi gasped in horror as the tears began to pour from her eyes.

"Damn," swore Kiyone. "Ryoko, teleport to them to Yagami's medical bay and put them in the stasis chambers, we'll meet you there in a minute."

Ryoko nodded and scoped up Kiagara and Washu in her arms and teleported away.

Kiyone turned to Mihoshi. "You did something very dangerous."

"I only did what I had to," Mihoshi explained.

"There's no telling what might have happened," Kiyone said. "You even could have activated the self-destruct."

"But I didn't," smiled Mihoshi. "Everything turned out okay."

Kiyone sighed. "Let's get to the bridge and see if we can take command of this ship." She walked towards the bridge with Mihoshi tailing her.

Tenchi went after them. "Why are you taking the ship?" he asked.

"Because it's evidence," Kiyone explained as she sat in the captain's chair. "If we can set it on autopilot and send it to GP headquarters, great. Otherwise we'll leave it in orbit for the GP salvage experts."

"Could you use my assistance?" asked Ayeka.

"Yeah, could you check on the balancer?" asked Kiyone.

"Of course," replied Ayeka.

"Mihoshi, see if you can access the navigation system," said Kiyone.

"Right!" said Mihoshi.

Kiyone punched a few numbers on the armrest. "Shit, the automatic security system is still on."

"Automatic security system?" Tenchi asked.

"A method of trapping would be intruders if for some reason the captain can't control the internal defenses," explained Kiyone. "Knowing this ship it probably involves trapping someone with force fields."

"Oh," said Tenchi. Not knowing anything about space travel or spaceships he could only stand there and watch as the three women worked.

"Oh dear," said Ayeka. "This is certainly not good."

Kiyone swiveled around in her captain's chair. "What's wrong?"

"A stray shot damaged the balancer controls," Ayeka said.

"Is that bad?" asked Tenchi.

"We won't be able to fly straight," explained Mihoshi.

"Maybe we can bypass it," said Kiyone. "How are those navigation controls coming?"

"Um, we have a problem," said Mihoshi. "Our orbit is degrading. We're falling into the star."

"Well fix it," ordered Kiyone.

"I can't, I'm locked out," said Mihoshi.

"Damn it," swore Kiyone. "How long do we have?"

"Ahh… About fifteen minutes," said Mihoshi.

"Shit, all right everybody back to your ships," ordered Kiyone. She tapped the communicator on her wristband. "Ryoko can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you."

"Did you get them in the stasis chamber?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, we've run into some problems up here. This ship won't be here in fifteen minutes. We'll meet you on the Yagami in a few minutes."

"All right, then hurry."

Kiyone switched off her communicator. "Let's go, we don't have much time."

* * *

Ryoko had stepped outside to open the hanger doors. She pressed a button on the wall. As the doors slid open the air in the large room made a quick dash for escape.

She was able to remain in place despite the rush of air moving outside by becoming intangible, thereby escaping the changing pressures.

<Okay Ryo-ohki, you're free to go > Ryoko communicated telepathically with her ship.

<Miya! >

<You have to go Ryo-ohki. It's not safe here. >

<Miya! >

<I'll be fine; I'm leaving aboard the Yagami. >

<Miya miya! >

Ryoko sighed to herself. Her loyal companion wouldn't leave until she left. She had to figure out a way to get the ship to leave. <Please Ryo-ohki; Sasami would be so sad if you got hurt. >

<Miya? >

<I'll be fine, I promise. >

<Miya! Miya miya miya! >

<All right, all right, I'll teleport to you after I've left. Now go! >

<Miya… > came the reluctant final reply.

<Good girl. >

Ryoko watched her ship leave. Once Ryo-ohki was a good distance a way Ryoko closed the hanger bay doors. It won't do her friends any good to enter room with out air. The repressurizing process had begun; Ryoko teleported back to the Yagami and waited for her friends to show up.

* * *

Ayeka followed the others down the hall. They were running as fast they could towards the hanger bay. She hoped that the others knew where they were going because all the halls looked exactly the same to her. Mihoshi and Kiyone constantly saying to each other things like: "Quick turn over here," and "But I think we came from over there," did nothing to help.

Suddenly, very suddenly she ran into a wall that she hadn't seen before. She backed away from the shield and rubbed the bump forming on her forehead. She saw the others running a way from her on the other side of the shield. "Wait!" she shouted but they already turned the corner and couldn't hear her.

`Damn,' she mentally cursed. She would have to get herself out. She thought for a second and came up with an idea. It would take a lot out of her but it was worth a try.

Ayeka made a fist and focused all of her energy in that hand. This was her most powerful attack. She could kill most people with a single blow and it could only be stopped by the strongest of shields.

Ayeka slammed her fist against the shield with all her might. Energy back flowed around her as she pressed against the force field. She poured more and more energy into her attack for long as she could but to no avail. She became weary. She couldn't keep it up; she had to stop. The energy dissipated. She fell to her knees.

`Damn.'

* * *

Something was wrong; Tenchi could feel it. He turned around; Ayeka wasn't there. He could have sworn that Ayeka was right behind him. "Stop!" he shouted. Mihoshi and Kiyone turned around.

"What is it?" asked Kiyone.

"Ayeka's not with us," said Tenchi.

"Maybe she got lost," suggested Mihoshi.

"Or maybe she got hurt," said Tenchi. "I'll go get her, you guys go to the ship."

He ran the down the halls trying to remember what turns they had taken. He was angry with himself; he should have been looking out for Ayeka. He was supposed to protect her, he had promised her that.

He had found Ayeka on her knees, crying. "Ayeka, what are you doing?" he asked. "We don't have much time left." He offered her his hand.

Ayeka wiped the tears away from the corners of her eyes. "I can't go Tenchi, I'm trapped," she explained as she pressed her hand up against the force field for emphasis.

Tenchi sighed. "Don't worry I'll get you out of here," he reassured her. Tenchi thought for second and then pulled out Tenchiken. "Have you tried going around?" he asked.

"I can't go around. There's another force field right behind me. There's also one above me and below me. I'm stuck. I'm starting to feel a little claustrophobic," she joked weakly.

"Okay, then let's try this," said Tenchi. He ignited the Tenchiken and stabbed at the wall like Ryoko had done before. Same as Ryoko, he found that there was a force field protecting the wall that he couldn't penetrate. "Damn," he said.

"Maybe there's a control panel somewhere," Ayeka suggested.

Tenchi nodded and began looking for anything that looked like a control panel, never once did he leave did he leave Ayeka's sight however. He didn't want her to think she'd been abandoned.

However, being abandoned was the least of Ayeka's concerns.

* * *

The others had arrived sooner than Ryoko had thought. She smiled as she saw Mihoshi and Kiyone running across the hanger bay towards the Yagami. Ayeka and Tenchi would be running behind them any second now.

Ryoko frowned when they failed to arrive. They should have been with Mihoshi and Kiyone. Maybe they got separated and lost.

The lift pulled Mihoshi and Kiyone onboard the Galaxy Police cruiser. Immediately Ryoko teleported right in front of them. "Where are the others?" she asked.

"Ayeka got separated from us and Tenchi went to get her," Kiyone explained. "Should be here any minute."

"You're supposed to be sticking together," Ryoko growled.

"Relax will you," said Kiyone. "They're big kids, they can handle themselves."

"I'm sure they'll be here any minute, don't worry," Mihoshi said.

Ryoko didn't say anything. She simply stared at the wall of the hanger waiting for Tenchi to show up.

* * *

It had been long enough; she had to do it. "Tenchi," Ayeka said. "Go, I don't want you die here with me."

Tenchi was already panicking; he was well aware of the passage of time. "Don't talk like that. I'll get you out of here, you'll see."

"Be reasonable, you haven't found a way out yet and you aren't going to," Ayeka explained.

"I'm not leaving you," Tenchi said firmly.

"Please Tenchi, there's nothing more you can do, just go!" Ayeka pleaded with him.

He turned around and screamed at her, "NO!" He took several deep breaths. "I won't go. I won't lose you."

Ayeka saw it. She saw the fear in his eyes. He was terrified, more scared than she had ever seen him before. But she knew that she had to get him to leave, there was no need for him to die. She prepared herself do something incredibly cruel. "Please go," she begged him. "Don't make Mayuka grow up without a father."

"Damn it Ayeka!" he cursed. "Don't do this to me!"

"You have to go for your daughter's sake!"

Tenchi knew he had to leave. He couldn't let Mayuka grow up without a parent, like he did, but at the same time he knew that he would sentence Ayeka to death by leaving her.

Tenchi was terrified. More scared than he was when he meet Ryoko on the school rooftop, more scared than when he first faced Kagato, he had only been scared like this once before in his life. That time was when his mother had died.

The truth came to Tenchi. The thing that he had most feared in the universe was coming true. The woman that he loved was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He knew he had to leave. He couldn't let what happened to him happen to Mayuka. He was being forced to choose between the woman that he loved and his child; in the end Mayuka would win every time.

There didn't seem to be any other way. There was nothing he could do. Ayeka was going to die.

Then he felt something within him begin to change. A sensation had he had only felt three times before in his life. Immense amounts of power suddenly became available to him. His mind expanded, possibilities that he would have never thought of before suddenly occurred to him. For him the universe had less limits and more possibilities. He found that he had a way out. Ayeka would live, Mayuka would grow up with a father and everything would turn out all right.

Ayeka starred at Tenchi in awe. The light hawk wings where splayed out in front of him in their familiar `Y' pattern. The triangular markings on his forehead glowed brilliantly.

"Ayeka stand back," Tenchi commanded.

Ayeka nodded and scrambled to the wall.

Tenchi commanded the light hawk wings forward with a wave of his hand. The light hawk wings flew toward the force field that imprisoned Ayeka. They punched through the field holding Ayeka like a fist going through tissue paper. In a fraction of a second she had gone from captive to rescued.

Tenchi dissipated the light hawk wings and smiled. He offered Ayeka his hand, but instead of taking it Ayeka leapt up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh Tenchi, thank you!" she wailed.

* * *

Mihoshi and Kiyone sat in their chairs and waited. Ryoko stood behind them still staring at the wall. Silence filled the room.

An electronic beep destroyed silence in the cockpit, causing everyone's hearts to leap up into their throats. Mihoshi turned to look at the display that had created the intruding noise.

"The external temperature of the hull of Kiagara's ship is rising," Mihoshi said plainly.

"In one and a half minutes we won't be able to escape the star's gravity," Kiyone commented. "Prepare to depart."

Mihoshi nodded and began to work on her console.

"What?! You're not going to leave them here, are you?!" Ryoko shouted.

"I said `prepare to depart,' not depart. I don't intend to leave anyone behind but let's be realistic. We're running out of time," Kiyone explained.

Ryoko growled. "Fine then leave. I'll go get Tenchi and Ayeka and teleport them to Ryo-ohki."

"But you don't know where they are," Mihoshi protested.

"I can find them," Ryoko said.

Kiyone sighed. "Be reasonable for a second. You might get trapped in there when the ship finally enters the star."

"I don't care. You can go if want too but I'm not going to leave anyone behind." Ryoko disappeared from the cockpit.

Kiyone sighed again. "Let's go Mihoshi."

The hanger bay doors opened and the Yagami inched its way out. "Do you think she can get them out in time?" Mihoshi asked.

"I hope so," Kiyone said. "I hope so."

* * *

Ryoko began her search for Tenchi and Ayeka. She would teleport to a section of the ship, look around, and call out their names. When she found nothing she would teleport to a new section. Eventually she found them running through the halls towards the hanger bay.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi gasped in surprise as she appeared in front of him.

She stared for a second at their entwined hands then grabbed them both and teleported.

Well most of you could probably see that coming. Comments and criticism are always appreciated and can be sent to hmanduck@aol.com.

I'd like to thank my preaders BlaqueTalon and Serenity McCloud.

Thanks for taking the time to read my fic.

Dave^_^