Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Tenchi Muyo: No Need For Boys! ❯ Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from this fanfic. Some of the material for this story was taken from Tenchi Muyo OVA #5, freely adapted for the purposes of this story.

Tenchi Muyo: No Need for Boys! Part Eight

There was a long moment of silence after Kagato disappeared, leaving Tenchi gazing in shock at where he had disappeared along with his captive and former slave, Ryouko. The breeze blew past them, and she could hear it blowing through the leaves of the sacred tree, the one that was once part of Yosho's ship. Tenchi barely noticed it, she had other things to worry about.

Nearby her Ayeka gazed at Yosho in shock, "Elder brother?"

"Ayeka," Yosho's mouth formed that very familiar smile, and with a soft cry Ayeka ran into his arms, soon to be joined by a crying Sasami. They began to talk together softly, but Tenchi wasn't really listening to their words.

"Tenchi?" Mihoshi walked over to her side.

Tenchi turned to look at the Galaxy Police officer, and was mildly startled by the compassion that she saw in her eyes. It was easy to underestimate her, with how clumsy and tearful she could be, but Tenchi knew there was a stronger core to her.

"I'd like to help you go after Ryouko," Mihoshi said to her quietly, "and attempt to arrest the notorious criminal Kagato."

"It'll be risky," Tenchi cautioned her gently.

Mihoshi raised her chin forcefully, "Danger is only part of the Galaxy Police job description." A bit more gently, "I'd really like to help, Tenchi."

Tenchi smiled back, "I'd be glad to have you, Miss Mihoshi."

With a bit of a blush on her cheeks she looked down shyly and said, "You can just call me Mihoshi, Tenchi."

"All right, Mihoshi," Tenchi agreed with a slight smile. She saw Ayeka and Sasami had run down talking to her Grandfather and said, "Excuse me."

"Charming another girl, Tenchi?" her grandfather asked, nodding to where Mihoshi stood, a flush to her cheeks and eyes wide.

"Not intentionally so," Tenchi sighed wearily. She gave her grandfather a pointed look, "You just had to announce yourself, didn't you. You couldn't have just jumped him like we had planned?"

"It wouldn't have been honorable," Yosho answered.

"Neither is he, if you hadn't noticed," Tenchi growled.

Yosho shrugged his agreement with that point, but not necessarily conceding that he had actually been in the wrong. He gave his granddaughter a shrewd look as he asked, "So what do you intend to do now?"

"Go after them," Tenchi simply said.

Part of Ayeka wanted to loudly protest that idea. She so wanted to tell Tenchi to just leave Ryouko to her fate, to go with her back to Jurai and marshal the forces of that world against Kagato. But her real reason was to keep Tenchi for herself, and she knew that is she actually said those words, Tenchi would never forgive her.

"And I'll go with you," Ayeka said to Tenchi instead, "we can use my ship to engage Soja in battle, along with Ryo-Ohki."

Tenchi smiled, "Thank you."

"I'm coming too," Sasami spoke up.

Tenchi knelt down by the little girl, "I need you to stay here, Sasami." She opened her mouth to protest as Tenchi continued, "You see, I need you here to keep an eye on my Grandfather for me." Tenchi gave him an impish look, "He's pretty impetuous, so without someone to keep an close eye on him he gets into trouble."

Sasami sniffled gently, "All right, Tenchi. I'll do my best."

Grandfather gave Tenchi a stern look over that, but the corner of his mouth was twitching upward as he fought back a smile.

Tenchi knelt down where Ryo-Ohki crouched low to the ground, looking up into the darkness where Tenchi was certain the Soja waited for them and hissing softly. "Will you help us to go rescue Ryouko, Ryo-Ohki?" Tenchi asked the cabbit softly.

"Myah!" was the forceful yes that Ryo-Ohki gave her.

"Tenchi," her Grandfather said quietly.

"Yes?" Tenchi turned to look at him.

Her Grandfather gently put his hand on her shoulder, "I just want you to know that I've never been more proud of you than I am now." Gently smiling he finished, "You can do this, Tenchi."

"I've got the sword with me," Tenchi hefted the wooden hilt, "I'm sure that I'll manage." Tenchi was mildly surprised when her Grandfather shook his head no.

"Don't rely on the blade," Grandfather quietly cautioned her, "the power that you need is within yourself."

"Within myself?" Tenchi blinked. But her Grandfather didn't answer her, he just smiled slightly as he walked away.

"Why don't I bring Ayeka along with me in Yukinojo?" Mihoshi stepped up to offer, referring to her Galaxy Police cruiser.

"Shouldn't we take.." Ayeka started, then she trailed off thoughtfully. "He knows I'm here, but I doubt he knows who Miss Mihoshi is. If we take her cruiser, we might gain an advantage in surprise," she smiled.

Tenchi looked down at Ryo-Ohki, then over at the two young women thoughtfully. "You know," she murmured, "I think I have another idea to surprise Kagato with, too."

"What is it?" Mihoshi asked eagerly.

Tenchi didn't answer her, instead she looked up into the darkness, trying to imagine what was happening to Ryouko right then. 'Try to hold on,' she sent the passionate thoughts out to her, 'we're coming to rescue you soon.'

The ship hung in the blackness of space, a massive vessel sculpted in silvery metal and alloys. It was a sight that had struck fear in many cultures, with a dark reputation that was known all across the galaxy. Corridors stretched on, twisting through the vessel until it reached a large central room. Within, Kagato stood before what resembled an giant organ.

It wasn't his bad playing that awoke Ryouko, nor the discomfort that she felt. Instead it was a voice, a familiar one gently touching on the edges of her mind. "Tenchi," Ryouko whispered to herself, her eyes gradually opening.

"Awake at last," Kagato smiled, a twisted, cold thing.

Ryouko glared down at him, struggling within the sand that held her captive. Her power built, sending the sand churning all around her, and she took in the hourglass tube she was contained in. But the sand sapped her power, the clear walls of the chamber resisting the strongest blows, and exhausted she slumped, the sand pouring in around her again.

"Interesting," Kagato softly murmured, "when I last saw you, there was no way that you could have defied me like this." He frowned, "What power does this Tenchi possess, that could turn you against me like this?"

"No power," Ryouko smiled slightly, thinking of the kindness that Tenchi had shown her. But that was something that a man like Kagato could never understand, so she kept silent.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Kagato turned back to his keyboard and finished, "I'll be testing that power soon enough."

"No, you won't," Ryouko answered simply.

Kagato looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Oh?"

Ryouko felt a deep pain as she quietly said, "Princess Ayeka won't let her. She'll bring Tenchi back to Jurai with her, and make sure that you two don't cross swords." With a sad little smile she added, "You see, she loves him too."

With a cold smile on his face Kagato said, "You had best hope not, for your only value to me is as a hostage, now." Something brought his attention back to the main view screen. and he scowled at what he saw.

The lone Galaxy Police cruiser approached the Soja, and the communications system activated, "This is Galaxy Police Detective first class Mihoshi and I order you to lower your shields and surrender yourself, Kagato!"

"Told you," Ryouko murmured to him sadly.

"Scan for Ryo-Ohki," Kagato barked at the ship around him. He scowled as the readings came up negative, "That coward! How dare he send another in his place?" Kagato strode away as he said, "Let the automatic systems deal with that... fool out there."

Ryouko felt a few bitter tears streak her face. She was glad to know that Tenchi was safe, but still, she had hoped for rescue... Suddenly, her head jerked back in surprise. 'I feel Ryo-Ohki through our link.' she thought, 'but how?'

The bridge of the Galaxy Police cruiser wasn't terribly large to start with, and with five people in it if you counted Ryo-Ohki and the main computer unit, it was positively cramped. "Our shields should have kept Kagato from detecting all of you," Mihoshi said cheerfully.

"Ooof," Ayeka gasped as Mihoshi gave her an accidental elbow to the gut. After giving her a death glare and wiggling back far enough to hopefully prevent another hit she looked over at Tenchi, "So what do we do next?"

"Yukinojo, is the Soja's weapons systems responding to us automatically?" Tenchi looked up to ask the ship itself even as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position on the console that she was perched on. It didn't help much.

"Analyzing firing pattern," Yukinojo murmured, and a moment later announced, "It appears the automatic systems are controlling the weapons."

"Kagato isn't paying attention," Mihoshi noted, "because he things it's only one GP cruiser he's facing off with."

"Giving us a slight advantage," Ayeka noted. Her eyes widened as Mihoshi smoothly dodged the ship away from a burst of weapons fire, "Nicely done."

"Thank you," Mihoshi beamed at her cheerfully.

"Is there someplace Ryo-Ohki and I can take off from?" Tenchi asked her as she moved towards the rear hatch.

"The shuttle bay," Mihoshi volunteered the information.

"Get us as close as you can safely get to Soja," Tenchi paused in the doorway, Ryo-Ohki right behind her, "and let us know when you do."

"Be careful," Ayeka said softly as Tenchi stepped out into the corridor, but the dark haired woman didn't answer her.

"This is going to be tricky," Mihoshi bit her lip as she thrust the slim cruiser forward.

"Woah!" Ayeka grabbed another console to keep from falling over as the cruiser bobbed and weaved through the weapons fire, dancing closer and closer to the great ship itself.

"Tenchi!" Mihoshi used the ship's communicator to try to contact her and asked, "Are you in the shuttle bay yet?"

"Just about there," Tenchi yelled as she reached the door. She keyed it open with a wave of her hand, and stepped into the large boat bay.

"Good," Mihoshi's voice came from a nearby screen, "because I think we're as close as we're going to be able to get."

For a moment Tenchi gazed in shock at the image on the viewscreen. The cruiser was actually skimming along the skin of the Soja, dodging bursts of weapons fire as she did so. Tenchi grabbed the cabbit and flung her forward, "Go, Ryo-Ohki!"

"Myah!" the cabbit cried as it expanded, forming the black and scarlet crystalline ship. A red energy beam engulfed Tenchi, and she found herself on the bridge of the ship, which was zipping along beside Yukinojo.

"You two can go if you want," Tenchi said as Ryo-Ohki opened a communications link to the other ship, "Kagato only challenged me."

"We're following you in," Ayeka said as Mihoshi nodded firmly.

"Thanks," Tenchi gave them a smile. The link was cut, and she looked up to one of Ryo-Ohki's crystal computer units. "We don't have to do it this way, you know. There might be another way to get us inside..."

"Myah." The answer was firm, no hesitation at all.

"Thank you, Ryo-Ohki," Tenchi smiled sadly, "I won't forget this." She took a deep breath and commanded, "Ramming speed!"

"Myah!" the eager reply.

The small ship leapt forward, the hull of the Soja swiftly filling up the screen as they went faster and faster.

CRASH!

To be continued...