BLOODY ANGEL A Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki fanfic By: Alan O'Kelly kodachi16@fcmail.com http://lavender.fortunecity.com/dolls/119 Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its Characters are not my creation and I do not claim any ownership of them. ----- PROLOGUE It was a dreary day at the Masaki household, the sun was hidden behind a blanket of black clouds and the wind chilled the air outside. Tenchi finished up with his daily work in the fields and picked up the basket he had filled with carrots. Ryo-ohki bounded along happily behind Tenchi as they walked back to the shed were the vegetables were stored. Tenchi slid the door open and entered the cool dark shed. The shelves held carrots, tomatoes, bags of rice, peas, and potatoes. The carrots, of course, were few. Ryo-ohki loved carrots and they could never keep her out of them. Tenchi grunted as he tipped over the basket on his shoulder into a half full barrel of carrots, they tumbled out and the barrel filled to the rim. He set the basket down and picked up a carrot that had missed; Tenchi brushed it off and went to one knee. He handed the carrot to Ryo-ohki, who meowed with happiness, grabbed the carrot, and ran off. Tenchi Masaki walked up the steps of his home and opened the front door, he flinched as he heard Ryoko roaring from the living room. He walked to the corner and peeked around, to see if the coast was clear. What he saw was Ryoko gritting her teeth at a Rubix Cube. She was madly twisting it here and there, then disgusted, she tossed it away and sat looking sullen, "Damn piece of junk. Probably just broken." She stood up and teleported off to somewhere. Tenchi sighed and walked through the living room to the kitchen. Sasami was already cooking dinner and smiled when she saw him come in. "Hello Tenchi!" she greeted happily. Tenchi smiled back. "Hi, Sasami. Mmmm that smells good, how long till it's done?" Sasami ladled out some soup and tasted it. "It should be done in about twenty minutes Tenchi." She began adding more spices to it and Tenchi sat down at the table. Mihoshi stumbled into the room and gave a huge yawn. She looked a Tenchi and smiled. "Good morning Tenchi!" Mihoshi sat down at the table and pulled out a small cube, it was the Rubix Cube that Ryoko had been fussing over. Tenchi smiled, embarrassed, "Uh, it's actually five o'clock at night." Mihoshi was already deeply immersed in the cube and only managed an, "Oh." Tenchi watched Sasami make the food, she was a very competent cook and she loved to do it. "Tenchi?" asked Mihoshi. Tenchi looked over at Mihoshi who was holding the cube at him, "Am I doing it right?" In her outstretched hand she held the completed Rubix Cube, one color on each side. Tenchi, to say the least, was amazed, "Looks good to me." Mihoshi set the cube down and then immediately forgot about it. "Tenchi," asked Sasami, "Could you please get Washu, it's almost time to eat." Tenchi flinched then sighed, Washu was all ways doing her little tests and experiments on him, oh well, better just to get it over with, he thought. "Mihoshi, I need you to get Ryoko and Ayeka please." They both got up and went their separate ways. Tenchi walked to the trans-dimesional door that led to Washu's lab and knocked. Washu's image appeared on a screen mounted on the door, "Ah, Tenchi, just who I needed to see, please come in." The screen went black and the door opened. Tenchi slumped his shoulders and walked in. As he stepped into Washu's lab the door closed and disappeared behind him. Washu was sitting on her floating cushion and typing on her computer, "One moment please." She said in a sing-song voice. Tenchi just wanted to let her know about dinner, then get out. "Um...Uh...It's time for dinner little Washu." She waved her hand in dismissal. Washu hopped off of her levitating cushion and walked over to him, "Plenty of time for that later. Right now I have a few tests I need to do." She smiled deviously, "Now remove your clothes and go have a seat in that chair over there." She pointed to a large chair with lots of little electronic thingies flashing and beeping. "Do I really have to take off my clothes?" he asked hopefully. "Of course you do!" Washu giggled, "The test won't work if you don't!" After a couple minutes Tenchi was dressed only in a pair of boxers. He was thoroughly tied down into the chair and looking extremely depressed. Washu cracked her knuckles, wiggled her fingers over her keypad, and then began typing. Tenchi looked out of the corners of his eyes as two gadgets lowered down, they stopped when they were lined up with his temples. The strange device had a cone shaped thing facing towards him, one on each. He tried, but couldn't move his head because that too was strapped to the chair. Then something happened, a burst of sparks flew up from one of Washu's computers and red lights began flashing every where, Washu turned around quickly, now being serious. She ran to her main computer terminal and began typing hurriedly. Sparks and fire burst from more science equipment and Tenchi grew worried. The chair that Tenchi sat in began to hum with energy. "Uh...L-little Washu, something's happening with the chair." She didn't notice him though. Washu's fingers flew across the keys at an incredible speed. Tenchi struggled against the restraints but was unable to free himself. Small robots with buckets of water wheeled out of chambers that had opened up in the walls of the laboratory, the absurd looking little robots began putting out electrical fires, however, Tenchi's problem was not solved. Tenchi heard humming to each side of his head and saw the electronic things that had lowered, little sparks flew off the pointy ends of the cones and crackled and hissed next to his ears. "Washu!" he cried. Green electricity zapped out of the two cones and coursed into his head. The power surged through him and his vision went white, it was hard to think, and he began to feel tired. Then it stopped. As his vision came back he saw Washu standing over him, yelling at him. Somehow he had gotten onto the floor. His hearing slowly came back, "-alfuntion with my computers, are you all right?" Washu looked afraid that he might have gotten seriously hurt. Tenchi began to answer, but all that came out was a moan and a gargle sound. Washu clapped her hands together and smiled, "Oh goody, you're all right!" and with that he passed out. ----- CHAPTER 1: Pain Mihoshi had found Ayeka hanging up clothes to dry in the back yard. The two Jurai Guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, were holding up the ends of the clothes lines. Though obedient, the guardians didn't really like having to hold up laundry, they found it extremely demeaning. Ayeka said hello and Mihoshi told her about dinner. Ayeka nodded and said she'd be along in a minute. Mihoshi then went looking for Ryoko. Her usual spots were vacant. Mihoshi looked up at the rafters but didn't see Ryoko up there. Then she looked under the couch cushions, no Ryoko there either. Her search led her upstairs. It was quiet on the second floor, except for some annoying beeping noise. Mihoshi entered into the room where she, Ayeka, and Sasami slept. Ryoko was no where to be found, but she did find the source of the beeps. "Ohhhhhh!" ohd Mihoshi as she picked up her control cube. It was flashing and beeping. She turned the cube's sides in no particular order, hoping to get it to work. A huge image of a man in a GP uniform appeared in front of Mihoshi and she screamed at it in surprise and tripped when she tried to step back. The man put his face in his hands and shook his head. He waited as Mihoshi collected herself and stood up. She saluted him and he saluted back. "Greetings Detective Mihoshi." Mihoshi remained perfectly strait and dropped her salute, "Hello second lieutenant Okasu!" she smiled, "How are you doing sir?" Second lieutenant Okasu answered, "Actually, it's first lieutenant now, I was even transferred to intelligence a few months ago, it's going good." He cleared his throat, "Now. Detective Mihoshi, we have been tracking down an assassin known as the 'Bloody Angel'. He is being charged with mass data slicing, plotting the assassination of The emperor of Jurai, attempted murder of the emperor of Jurai, grand theft, the genocide of three space-faring races, the destruction of twenty four colonies, and the destruction of five planets. We have reason to believe that he will be entering the Solar system soon, and we need your help in locating this A1 class criminal. Do not engage him, he commands a Kelian dreadnought called the 'Shadow Demon' and is heavily armed. Once you have spotted him you will download the coordinates to Galaxy Police HQ and we will send in a battle fleet to stop the 'Bloody Angel'." He watched her nod and salute again. "Don't worry sir, just leave it to me!" As the interspace hotline was disconnecting, first lieutenant Okasu could be seen, looking very worried. ----- Nobuyuki, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, and a crispified Tenchi all sat around the table eating. Washu was telling them the story about the experiment while they all sat around eating. Nobuyuki burst into laughter and Sasami giggled, "Poor Tenchi." Ayeka was not amused that Tenchi had gotten hurt and she was constantly asking him if he was all right, she also kept sending evil looks over to Washu. Nobuyuki stopped laughing eventually and looked around the table, "So, where are Ryoko and Mihoshi? It's not like Mihoshi to miss dinner." No one knew were the two were, Tenchi would have gotten up to find them but he hurt all over too much to even move. Ayeka dismissed their absence, as usual, "Ryoko's most likely off some where getting drunk or some such thing, and Mihoshi probably just fell asleep while looking for Ryoko." Sasami sighed and got up, she excused herself and left to find the two missing girls. Sasami went upstairs and found Mihoshi sleeping in her room, holding her control cube. Mihoshi was all spread out on the floor, laying on books and other things, Sasami couldn't believe that she could sleep in that position. Ayeka had been right, but they all knew how Mihoshi was. They also knew how Ryoko was, and Sasami thought that she knew where to find her. Sasami walked down the stairs and went out the front door. The sky was black and rain lightly sprinkled down. She put her shoes on and began walking to Funaho, the Jurai tree that belonged to her and Ayeka's brother, Yosho. She decided to take a short cut down a hill to reach the tree, since she was in a hurry. The hill was steep but led down to the tree in a much shorter distance than the normal path. Sasami began walking carefully down the hill, she grabbed onto a small tree that was growing on the hill, to steady herself. She could see the Jurai tree about half a mile away. As Sasami was looking at Funaho she slipped on a patch of gravel that covered most of the hill. Her feet left the surface of the ground and time felt like it slowed to a crawl. She landed on her stomach and the wind was knocked out of her, the force of the fall sent her head over heels in a clumsy cartwheel. Her head smacked into a big rock and she continued to slide down the gravel covered hill. As she careened down farther sharp rocks cut and scraped her, and the gravel bit painfully into her skin as she slid down the last twenty feet. Sasami came to a halt at the bottom of the hill. She lay staring up into the sky as the pain blossomed everywhere on her body, she blinked, it felt like a nightmare. Sasami's dress was tattered by the sharp rocks as she had come down the hill and blood covered most of her body. The world twisted and distorted in her vision and her body continued to barrage her with it's relentless assault of pain. She had to get help, her legs felt broken and so did her ribs. Sasami called out for Ryoko, hoping, wishing that her voice could somehow be heard, but her voice was quite and raspy. She groaned in agony and then she was swallowed by darkness. ----- Ryoko sat high in the branches of Funaho, thinking of Tenchi. Oh how she loved him, but that pesky Ayeka was always in the way, it infuriated her that she had to contend with the other girls currently in residence at the Masaki home. Ryoko shook her head and sighed. The birds chirped peacefully and hopped around near the water surrounding Funaho, it was a nice evening. She perked up as she heard something off in the distance behind her, it sounded like a small rockslide. No big deal though, she thought and dismissed it. A slight breeze rustled the leaves of Funaho and filled her with an eerie prescience of power, she heard a voice. The voice was faint, not distant, just too soft to hear. The voice raised louder, slightly, it was the voice of Tsunami. What Tsunami said echoed and intertwined with the voice of Sasami, "...Ryoko...help..." "Sasami?" Ryoko turned around, realizing in horror what the rockslide really was, she could see the hill that was close to the house, and there at the bottom of the hill was the small figure of Sasami. "SASAMI!" Ryoko cried. She shimmered and teleported to Sasami, Ryoko bent over and touched Sasami's cheek slightly, "Sasami, are you all right?" Ryoko got no answer. Ryoko looked up at the path that Sasami had made when she had fallen, "Damn." she picked up Sasami, again being very gentle, "Don't worry Sasami you'll be fine, I'll get you to Washu and she can heal you." Again no response. "Damn it." She didn't want to teleport back to the house because it might hurt Sasami even more, or even kill her. Ryoko flew up the hill and down the road towards the Masaki household. She flew strait up to the door, kicked it in and ran to the kitchen, where she could hear Washu laughing. Everyone looked at her as she ran in Ayeka and Tenchi bolted up, Nobuyuki was overcome with fear and surprise and he got up slowly, "My god, what happened?" asked Nobuyuki. Washu got up calmly and made Ryoko put down Sasami. "She slipped and fell down the hill, the one that's just off the road where you can see Funaho and whole valley." Ryoko was afraid for Sasami, they were after all, a sort of family. Ayeka was in tears and tried to get close to her sister, but Washu pushed her back. "YOU," screamed Ayeka, "This is all your fault Ryoko, if she hadn't of gone looking for you none of this would have happened." Ryoko only watched Sasami and made no effort to fight with Ayeka. Washu was busy poking and prodding Sasami's body. She put a small micro-sensor on Sasami's forehead and began typing on her dimensional computer. The heart rate and brain waves were low, brain activity was at eighty-four percent, a few points above the danger line but the computer displayed that brain activity would begin diminishing at an exponential rate if actions were not taken. "Good news people, Sasami will live, but if we don't get her in my lab right now her chances of surviving without serious brain damage will be very slim." Ayeka was in hysterics. Tenchi was very afraid for Sasami. Washu pointed to Ryoko, "Pick her up Ryoko, and lets get her to my lab." Tenchi hobbled ahead of them and opened the door for the small party, Washu stopped in the entrance before anyone could enter and turned around. "Nobuyuki. Tenchi. You two stay out here with Ayeka while we work." Ayeka cried, "I want to be with my sister. Please." Washu shook her head, "I'm sorry, but with what I'm going to do it would be best if you didn't get to see. Please, stay. Sasami will be fine, I promise." Washu walked through the door and disappeared. As Ryoko looked back as she began to enter the lab, she saw Ayeka crying on Tenchi's shoulder as he held her. The door shut and vanished behind her. Washu was already prepping her computers, a small platform hovered up from the floor and rose four feet into the air. The platform held itself up by small repulsor engines. "Set Sasami on the table." Washu pointed to the platform without even looking up from her screens. Ryoko set Sasami down and pulled her arms out gently from under Sasami's comatose body. She reached up lightly brushed off some dirt that was on Sasami's face. Ryoko then stepped back out of Washu's way. A huge circular scanner materialized at the head of the table, it was so large that the table could go through the middle. The scanner began to spin slowly and moved forward, towards Sasami's head. As it reached her head orange light pulsed onto her skin and her bone structure became visible underneath as it passed by. The scanner waited at the foot of the platform as two small floating droids materialized and began knitting her broken bones with small red laser beams. The two droids hovered out of the way as the sensor passed by again, this time revealing veins, arteries, and her nervous system. Ryoko could see a cloud of red near Sasami's stomach area and Washu remarked, "She's bleeding internally." The two droids flew back to Sasami and began fixing ruptured blood vessels and capillaries. The cloud of red blood receded and disappeared. "Her brain is a very delicate procedure, and will have to be done separately." The scanner ran down her body once more and revealed Sasami's muscles. The two droids went to work repairing her muscle tissues. Ryoko looked at Washu, who was still typing on her computer, "So Sasami will be okay? No permanent damage?" Washu looked up for a minute, "She will be perfectly fine, that is, if I can fix the damage done to her brain." "Can you?" "I do have a method, it's experimental, but it's our only shot." Washu shook her head in despair. The droids were now finishing up repairing the damages on Sasami's skin. Washu typed on her computer and a large vial full of red liquid raised out of a smooth metal plate just left of Washu's keyboard. She created a large syringe, and drew some of the red liquid into it, the needle was four inches long. "What in the hell is that?" asked Ryoko, worried. "This solution contains millions of microscopic robots, called Nanites, they are capable of entering into Sasami's brain and repairing all the damage, plus any other things the scanner may have missed." She tapped the syringe and squirted the air bubbles out. "So...uh, what's with the long needle?" Washu rubbed some special sterilizing liquid onto Sasami's neck, and set the need onto her skin, "I need to inject the Nanites close to Sasami's brain, it will speed up the process and ensure her safe recovery." She looked at Sasami, "Sorry about this Sasami, it's going to hurt for a while." Ryoko grimaced as Washu planted the needle deeply into Sasami. Washu pushed down on the plunger and the Nanite filled liquid entered into Sasami's body. She pulled out the needle and threw it into her waste particle disintegrater. Washu called Ryoko over, "Apply pressure to the puncture wound." Ryoko held Sasami's neck tightly, "Don't let go until I say." Washu walked back to her main computer and watched her display. It showed the Nanites spread to the different portions of her brain. Sasami's heart rate was already back to normal, but her brain activity had dropped to seventy-nine percent. She watched the counter, still no change. The Nanites finished spreading in her brain and began to work. No change in brain activity. Washu slammed her fist onto the metal plate next to her. "Sasami." Washu closed her eyes. The computer beeped. When Washu looked again the number had changed to eighty percent, Washu leaned closer to her computer, maybe it was a fluke, hope filled her. The number rose again, Eighty-one percent. "YYYYAAAAAAHH!!!" Washu turned to Ryoko, "It worked! Sasami's brain activity is increasing!" Ryoko smiled with joy and closed her eyes, she was filled with relief. "Good work Washu. You've saved Sasami's life." Washu smiled at her daughter, "Was there ever any doubt? After all I am the greatest genius scientist in the universe!" Washu picked up a small device and walked back to the table, "Okay, you can release the wound now." The bleeding had nearly stopped, but it was now all right to seal up the hole. Washu waved the hand held medi-computer over the puncture wound, the computer greatly sped up cell growth and the wound was sealed in three point eight seconds. The computer continued to count up, Ryoko saw that it was at ninety-eight percent. The numbers continued until it reached one hundred. Sasami's eyes fluttered open. She turned her head, her vision was too blurry to see anything more than a foot away, and her throat hurt too much to talk. Washu put her hand on Sasami's head and gently ran her fingers through her hair, "Shhh, don't try to talk, your safe now." Sasami's vision remained blurry, but beside the table, next to Washu's figure, she knew that she saw Tsunami standing over her. Protecting her. ----- In deep space, hundreds of millions of miles away from the small backwater planet known as Earth, the fabric of Realspace tore. A massive black ship shimmered as it exited Hyperspace and the link between the two plains of existence were sealed once more. The battle cruiser was a unique type of Kelian Dreadnought, the only of it's kind. The Dreadnought was the only one of it's kind because the sheer amount of money taken to build and the huge amounts of raw material used to maintain it were enough to bankrupt a small empire. The black ship was difficult to see against the backdrop off space, an effective visual camouflage. The sleek shape of the dreadnought aided by EMP sensor disrupters, helped it to evade sensor scans. The Kelians had built it for the Dask'ma empire, it had taken over five years to build. But, as the massive Dreadnought was completed the Bloody Angel had liberated it to help him in his glorious quest of power and revenge. From end to end the ship measured five miles. Inside the ship the halls were sterile and metallic. At full capacity the ship could hold one point five million humanoids, but the current population aboard was one. The ship was highly automated and didn't require gunners, pilots, navigators, or engineers, everything was done by the main computer and the robots onboard. The halls even had auto defense systems, so no active soldiers were needed. The bridge of the ship was large and in the shape of a dome, two hundred feet in diameter. Inside, the command center was suspended eighty feet up by rupulsor lift engines. The walls of the dome had millions of small holograph projector units in them and they all worked in unison to produce images. Currently the display showed the view of space, as if the whole dome were made of glass. A one hundred foot image appeared, displaying the course settings and speed of the 'Shadow Demon'. All sensors showed clean scans. At the helm of the mighty ship, sitting in the command chair which doubled as a throne, was a handsome looking man wearing all black. His eyes were blue like the crystal seas that had once been on Achon and his hair was the color of blood. The Bloody Angel was almost three thousand years old. An intensified image of the third planet from Sol, the system's sun, appeared to the Bloody Angel's left. "Rotate command center eighty four degrees left." The hovering platform turned until it was facing the view of the planet. He watched the blue planet sorrowfully, his homeworld Achon had been much like this small isolated world. He had lived peacefully with his loving parents, until the arrival of the Dask'ma Empire. The Dask'ma fought over his homeworld against Jurai, and in the end it only destroyed the beauty of his planet, the destruction ruined the fertile fields and valleys, and his people were slaughtered by the fighting of the Dask'ma and Jurai. The Dask'ma was the alliance of three species: the Dask'ma, the Erokete, and the Gasfsadi. All three of the species were extinct now, it had taken the Bloody Angel eighteen years to wipe out their colonies and homeworlds. They had paid for the murder of his family, his friends, his people, and his planet. But, that was not enough, not by far. The Jurai empire was still flourishing in this portion of the galaxy, and if it took his last dying breath to kill all of the people of Jurai, then so be it. The Bloody Angel had contacted and made treaties with other species, species that were trying to take advantage of a possible way to get rid of two major empires. He was honored and given supplies by his allies because he had destroyed the Dask'ma. The Karuni alliance had even equipped his ship with a new experimental weapon that was able to penetrate the defense of Jurai ships. Jurai Light Hawk wings would be useless once the weapon was deployed. "Why go to Sol?" they had asked him. He smiled, Earth was the key to his ultimate victory, home of the visiting princesses Ayeka and Sasami and of prince Yosho. He had even sliced into highly encrypted transmissions that said that there was another prince on Earth, the crown prince of Jurai. Two days travel is all it would take to reach the Earth, then Jurai would receive a ransom call, with so many of the royal family there was nothing that he could not get. He grinned with pleasure and laughed. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the Jurai bastards, and their stay aboard his Dreadnought would be very unpleasant. His thoughts flashed to the four new interrogation droids he had, they were top of the line, nothing was too good for his guests. He would watch them as they screamed. He would laugh as they begged for mercy. It would be sweet revenge. ----- CHAPTER 2: The Dream The rest of the night was uneventful at the Masaki household. Sasami spent the night in Washu's lab with Tenchi, Washu, Ayeka, and Ryoko sleeping at her side. Mihoshi was still sleeping in the upstairs room, blissfully unaware as usual. Around midnight Sasami woke, her throat ached horribly but her vision was back to normal. Sasami turned her head, very slowly as not to hurt her throat, and she saw her friends with her. She didn't remember anything past leaving the house in search of Ryoko, but she remembered waking up with Washu and Tsunami standing by her. She reached up to feel her throat, suddenly finding out that her whole body hurt as well. She was still tired, just this brief period of consciousness was enough to exhaust her. Sasami closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. She was on Jurai, back home with her Mother. All her friends were there with her, Tenchi, Washu, Ryoko, Mihoshi, Ryo-Ohki, and her sister Ayeka. They were standing in a huge field of flowers, part of the Jurai royal family's gardens, and she could see everyone a short distance off. Sasami waved and yelled to them but they did not hear her. She ran, ran to her friends and the loving embrace of her mother. As Sasami got closer to her friends and family she saw that something was wrong. They were all crying, "Why are you crying?" she asked. No one looked up or said a word, they were all leaning over something. Sasami leaned around her mother, Misaki, to see what they were looking at. There, on blood soaked grass, was a royal Tear Drop, the sacred flower of Jurai. It was withered and dead. Sasami looked up and saw that all the flowers were dead, blood seemed to flow from them, not aware of it before she heard the flowers. They screamed and cried as death took them. Far in the distance she could see the huge holy tree of Jurai, it was on fire and so was the city surrounding it. Tenchi looked up at her, "Save Jurai...you must save Jurai..." The settings around her changed and she saw that she was on Tsunami, her ship. Sasami ran to the glowing figure of Tsunami and hugged her. "Tsunami," Sasami cried, "Jurai is in trouble." Sasami rubbed tears out of her eyes, "We have to go save my mother and father!" she sobbed. Tsunami hugged Sasami tightly to comfort her. After a few moments Tsunami spoke, "I am heading for Earth as fast as I can Sasami, I am currently eight point two light hours away." "No, you have to stay at Jurai to protect it!" Sasami still held Tsunami, "You have to protect my family." Tsunami looked down at Sasami with love and patience. Sasami had integrated with Tsunami after getting killed when Ryoko had attacked Jurai two thousand years ago, Tsunami and Sasami were one. "No harm will come to Jurai, but we need everyone to come with us, the enemy is powerful and I cannot stop it by myself." Tsunami released Sasami and stepped back, "I will be there soon, prepare for my arrival." Before Sasami had time to ask who or what the Bloody Angel was she woke. Sasami sat up and winced as her muscles hurt her, then groaned as the wince hurt her throat. Everyone was gone except for Ayeka and Ryo-Ohki, who were both still sleeping. Got to find Washu, she thought, Tsunami is coming. ----- Washu was just finishing up the repair of Mihoshi's Galaxy Police ship, Mihoshi could never seem to keep it from blowing up. The police ship was parked out in the empty fields in front of Tenchi's home. The sky had cleared and the sun shone brightly. Ryoko was sitting on the top of Mihoshi's ship and watching Tenchi. Nobuyuki was in the house cooking breakfast, even though he wasn't a very good cook. Mihoshi stood close to Washu patiently waiting for the ship to be completed. The name Bloody Angel rang a bell in Ryoko's mind, she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. "Hey Mihoshi," Ryoko asked, "What has the Bloody Angel done anyway?" Mihoshi looked up at Ryoko blankly. "Uhhhh. Hmmm let me see." Mihoshi looked at her Galaxy Police bracelet, the display appeared and Mihoshi began reading, "Oh he's an A1 class criminal, wanted for genocide, and steeling a Kellian Dreadnought, and data slicing." The conversation Mihoshi had with first lieutenant Okasu finally came back to her, "Oh ya! He also tried to kill the emperor of Jurai." Ryoko remembered now, back when she was still under Kagato's control she had heard of the Bloody Angel, he had supposedly destroyed an entire empire, Kagato had scoffed when he heard. The Bloody Angel really had destroyed the Dask'ma. "So Mihoshi, if this man is capable of annihilate an entire empire, how do you expect the Galaxy Police to capture him?" "The Galaxy Police can do it, don't worry." Mihoshi stood very strait and said it with pride. Ryoko rolled her eyes and teleported back to the house. She arrived in the living room, and heard Nobuyuki making a ruckus in the kitchen. Ryoko walked to the kitchen entryway and coughed as smoke blew into her face. Nobuyuki shouted as picked up a hot pan without mitts and then dropped the burnt food all over the floor. The smoke alarm finally went off. Nobuyuki sighed and looked up at Ryoko, "Hey! how about we have last night's left overs for breakfast?" Ryoko sighed and gave a nod. She left the kitchen and walked to the staircase. Ryoko opened the door to Washu's lab and entered. When she got to the other side she saw that Sasami was gone, Ayeka and Ryo-Ohki were still sleeping. Ryoko walked over to Ryo-Ohki and picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Ryo-Ohki blinked and yawned at Ryoko. "Where's Sasami?" asked Ryoko. Ryo-Ohki meowed, she didn't know. Ryoko set the cabbit down and looked around the lab. "Come on let's go look for her, she's not in the best of conditions to be out walking around." Before Ryoko left she took a few seconds to tie Ayeka's hair to the railing next to her. She giggled wickedly and left to find Sasami. ----- Sasami stumbled out into the sunlight, shielding her eyes against the harsh rays she could see Mihoshi's ship. She walked slowly and carefully. When she was halfway to the large ship Tenchi saw her and greeted her. "Hi Sasami! Are you all right?" He walked over to Sasami and helped her stand up. "You should be inside resting Sasami." Sasami held onto Tenchi's arm tightly and shook her head, "I've got to get to Washu." She rasped. After several steps towards the starship she tripped. Tenchi picked her up, using one arm around her back and the other one to support her legs. Sasami blushed slightly as Tenchi carried her to Washu. Mihoshi was inside the ship and only Washu's bottom half was visible as she leaned into an open access panel. A shower of sparks burst out the open panel and Washu jerked out quickly. "Damn." muttered Washu as she inspected the burnt wiring. "Little Washu," said Tenchi. Washu turned to see Tenchi holding Sasami. "What are you doing up Sasami? You must rest." Washu shook her head. Birds chirped loudly and were playing in puddles of rain from the storm. "Tsunami called me!" Sasami squinted through the bright sun shine, her eyes still too weak to take the bright morning glare. "She's all most here Washu, and she needs all of us to help her fight the threat against Jurai." Tenchi still held Sasami, but she didn't seem to mind. Washu folded her arms and thought, "Tenchi, get everyone ready, if Tsunami is coming we must be prepared for her arrival." She went back to the wiring and began rerouting wires, "Were going to go destroy the Bloody Angel." Washu pushed a button in the access panel and it slid shut. "Tenchi, put Sasami somewhere comfortable in Mihoshi's ship so that she can get some more rest." Tenchi disappeared into the ship. Ryoko materialized in the air a few feet from Mihoshi's ship and looked around. "Sasami's in the ship, don't worry." Washu said. Ryoko looked slightly relieved. She floated higher into the air and sat down cross legged on the hull of the starship. Ryoko's mind was linked with Ryo-Ohki, and Washu's mind was linked with Ryoko's. Washu knew everything that Ryoko knew and what she was thinking. Washu had artificially created Ryoko, but she had still been born from Washu's ova. That was why there was a link between Washu and Ryoko. Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki were really second generation types of Jurai trees, and someday Ryoko would be able to create the light hawk wings just like Tenchi. An hour passed and everyone was inside the house eating left overs for breakfast, Sasami felt amazingly better after getting food in her stomach. Ayeka was fighting with Ryoko as usual, it had started with Ayeka yelling at Ryoko for knotting her hair to the railing in Washu's lab then had some how elevated to them fighting over Tenchi. Tenchi would like for just once that he could eat dinner in silence. Ryo-Ohki munched on a bowl of carrots as Ayeka and Ryoko fought, Sasami was finally all right, Nobuyuki apologized for the meal, Tenchi sat and tried not to listen to the girls fight, and Washu tried recalling all that she could remember about the Bloody Angel. Washu knew that he commanded a very large dreadnought called the 'Shadow Demon', and he had many allies in this section of the galaxy. If they were not careful their could be a full scale war. Tenchi had the Jurai key with him, a powerful tool and weapon which was also named Tenchi (and it was not coincidence). Washu could feel that something was not right, the Bloody Angel was already in the Sol system and he was close, no more than a day and a half away at full sublight speed. The wait for Tsunami was long and irritating, the tension was building within Tenchi and the girls. They tried to occupy themselves, but it didn't help them much, Mihoshi was the only one that wasn't bothered, she sat on the couch watching a show that was downloaded from hypernet transmissions by Washu's high-tech equipment. Ryoko was on the roof with Ryo-Ohki, both were ready and waiting for the arrival of the Jurai ship Tsunami. Azaka and Kamidake were hovering in the backyard of the Misaki home, they watched as princess Ayeka paced back and forth. "Princess," said the mellow Kamidake, "perhaps you should sit and rest in the shade, you will tire your self if you keep moving around like that." Ayeka ignored them and continued pacing. Sasami was in the kitchen preparing a light supper for everyone, she could feel Tsunami's presence, only an hour more before she would arrive and their journey would begin. Sasami set the table and called for everyone. The meal was quite, Nobuyuki was off at work and Yosho was busy at the temple. Ryoko didn't come down from the roof and neither did Ryo-Ohki. Mihoshi was sleepy, as usual, and the two Jurai guardians had insisted on being near the princess' so they had materialized into the house and now hovered annoyingly close to the princesses. Tenchi gripped the Jurai sword for reassurance, soon he would be fighting. He sighed, oh what he would give to have a normal life again, he did like the girls but things were so much simpler before, when he was just a normal teenager. Washu was down in her lab monitoring the progress of the 'Bloody Angel' and had appeared for only a moment to get some food. This was not much different than the time they had fought Kagato, Tenchi thought, we can do it. ----- A fleet of sixty-seven Galaxy Police starships were in orbit around planet Galani in the Masonia system. The fleet was at red alert and on standby. The command vessel was under the control of Admiral Hatsune, an experienced warrior and strategist. Intelligence had contacted him approximately three standard hours ago and put him on standby. He was told to wait for a download of coordinates from a lone GP vessel in the Sol system. One thing was for sure in the Admiral's mind, the pilot had better be one lucky bastard. ----- Warning images flashed in the bridge of the 'Shadow Demon' the Bloody Angel typed in commands on his computer. A feminine voice filled the huge control room, "Put it on the main screen." he told the computer. The holo-projectors changed the image that was displayed by the entire dome to the planet Earth. It was too small to see, "Intensify the image two hundred percent." The image of the Earth grew larger and he could now see the small figure of a ship, definitely Jurai. "Intensify three hundred percent." The image of the ship filled the front of the domes view screens. "Tsunami!" the Bloody Angel hissed in recognition. The ship was beautiful, and deadly. Tsunami's ten Light Hawk wings seemed to beacon him. He laughed, what luck I have, he thought, not only will I have the princes and princesses to bring Jurai to its knees but I will get to test out my new weapon on the most powerful ship in the entire galaxy. ----- CHAPTER 3: Un-holy Vengeance Tsunami settled to the ground outside of Yosho's temple. The engines threw up a huge clouds of dust, trees and shrubs bowed over because of the winds. Yosho raised his arm up to shield his eyes from the dust, his clothes were rippling madly. The engines cut off and the wind died out. Yosho watched as the glowing figure of Tsunami appeared, she was beautiful. "Greetings Tsunami." Hailed Yosho. Tsunami was calm and showed no emotions, "Greetings prince Yosho. Is Tenchi ready?" Tsunami was floating a few inches off the ground. "Yes, they should be on there way right now." Yosho turned as he heard footsteps. Tenchi, Ayeka, and Sasami were running towards Tsunami. They stopped and panted from the long run up the steps to the temple. "It's time for you to leave now Tenchi." Tenchi nodded to his grandfather, "I'm ready." Tenchi looked at Tsunami, "It's good to see you again Tsunami." Tsunami smiled at him, "Hello Tenchi." Since Tsunami and Sasami were the same being Tsunami loved Tenchi just as Sasami did. "Now Tenchi, you must hurry aboard, the Bloody Angel is very close." Ryoko and Washu were aboard Ryo-Ohki, who was currently in ship form. They were prepared for the attack and were all ready in orbit around Earth. Mihoshi was being briefed by Yukinojo, her onboard computer, and they were also in upper atmosphere orbit. The humanoid form of Tsunami vanished as they boarded the ship, Yosho waved to them as they teleported into the ship. The bridge of Tsunami was beautiful. The Jurai tree was surrounded by water and small islands of deck. They made their way to the tree and waited as the large ship lifted off of the ground. The engine could be heard only if Tenchi strained his ears to pick up the noise. A large display appeared, showing them the view outside of the ship. Sasami moved away from Tenchi and her sister and walked to the Jurai tree. The Sasami's reflection in the pool of water was of Tsunami. She closed her eyes and floated slightly off the ground. Tenchi did not interrupt her, but watched intently. The display was filled with red light. The hull was heating up as they passed through the upper atmosphere. The Jurai ship soared gracefully in the sea of stars. Mihoshi's GP ship was in orbit next to Ryo-Ohki. A second screen appeared next to the display screen. After a second Washu's face appeared, "I've got a ship on the long range sensor display, the pilot has some high-tech cloaking devices on-board, but nothing that I can't bypass." Washu looked away at something for a moment then turned back to them, "I'm downloading the co-ordinates now." Washu's image disappeared and the stars in the display to move. The ship was rotating, preparing for full sub-light speed. The engines kicked on suddenly and they were thrust forward at an incredible rate, some mechanism onboard Tsunami kept them from feeling the acceleration. Ayeka looked at Tenchi as he watched the stars go by. He had a slightly quizzical look on his face, "What's wrong lord Tenchi?" Tenchi turned from the view of space and spoke to her, "I've been in space before, but I was wondering how it is that we can't feel the acceleration?" To advanced spacefaring races such devices were pretty much common and known by all, of course Earth was just beginning its development of space flight. "A device called a hyper-field damper is used. It is necessary for near light or full light speed travel, if it wasn't functioning we would be crushed by the intense velocity." He nodded and looked back at the display, Ryo-Ohki could be seen several hundred meters away. The GP ship was already ahead of them, Galaxy Police ships had slightly faster engines than Jurai. "Sub-light engine cut-off in twenty five more seconds..." Sasami was still floating in place, she was linked to the ship. Sasami spoke again, "Twenty seconds..." This is it, thought Tenchi. He pulled out the Jurai sword from his back pocket. "Fifteen..." Tenchi looked at Ayeka, she transformed. A circle of light traced up Ayeka's body and transformed her into battle clothing. "Ten..." Tenchi transformed too. he felt the energy pulse up through him. "Five..." The stars began to slow in the display. "All sub-light engines cut off." The streaks of stars returned to specks. Tenchi took an involuntary step back. A massive black ship, almost impossible to make out against the darkness of space, waited in front of them. "My God!" he uttered. The ship was bigger than the Soja, Kagato's ship, and it was even larger than Clay's had been. There were several bright flashes of light and dozens of ships appeared from no where. "Galaxy Police reinforcements." said Sasami, she was no longer levitating. Mihoshi had already called the GP. Tsunami held it's distance and so did Ryo-Ohki, they had no idea what the 'Shadow Demon' was capable of. ----- Admiral Hatsune screamed orders as the fleet re-entered real-space, the fleet pulled off into loose battle formations. "Group Beta, pull into echelon right formation on my wing, group Delta enter line abreast formation." The large battle fleet descended onto the waiting dreadnought. "ALL SHIPS OPEN FIRE!" A storm of ballistic and conventional warheads and lasers were launched. The weapons were all stopped as they collided into the powerful shields surrounding the ship. Hatsune realized the extreme danger he was now in, "All ships pull back, I repeat fall back!" Thousands of laser turrets began opening up on the black ship, the turrets trained in on all of the Galaxy Police ships. Warning signals on Hatsune's bridge began blaring, signifying that an enemy vessel had a positive lock on them. "Shit." There was no way they could take down the shields of the dreadnought. The shield generators that it was using were very large and powerful, they were called planetary shields, used to protect entire cities. It would be nearly impossible to take them down. "Admiral! The enemy ship is powering up its weapon systems." Admiral Hatsune looked around in desperation, escape was their only option, "All ships enter hyper-space, meet at predesignated co-ordinates: alpha gamma niner. Laser beams pulsed out of the dreadnought and into the crowd of GP starships. There were dozens of spherical explosions. "Admiral, groups beta and seta have been entirely wiped out, gamma has lost half of it's flight group, Alpha has lost three vessels." Admiral Hatsune said nothing, the would be no escape for them. Another wave of lasers disintegrated many more ships. The crew aboard the bridge were quite, finally realizing that they were going to die. Two members of the crew embraced each other, one began to weep. Hatsune looked at his faithful crew then closed his eyes. Death came quickly as he was blown out into the cold vacuum of space. ----- Mihoshi screamed as her ship flew in a tight corkscrew, every single laser passed harmlessly by. Tears were flooding down her eyes as she saw her fellow officers slaughtered. Mihoshi was punching controls indiscriminately, and she continued to successfully evade the laser fire. Yukinojo was lowered down and watching Mihoshi, though he was a only a robot he was very nervous. Mihoshi was thrown from her seat when a laser clipped the left rear wing of her craft. "MIHOSHI!" cried Yukinojo, "Get back to the controls!" Mihoshi stood up and and bolted for her seat, but tripped on the way. Her wildly flailing arms slapped several different buttons. She screamed. ----- The Bloody Angel stared in amazement as the lone GP ship pulled the most beautiful maneuvers he had ever seen. He watched as it spiraled and twisted past every one of his lasers. Surely this was the best pilot in the entire galaxy. "I must meet this person." he declared. "Computer. Do not target Galaxy Police with defense system." the weapon systems cut off and the lasers stopped. "Target craft with tractor beam and pull it into cargo hanger three, then escort the pilot to the brig." He laughed with amazement, he would meet with this Galaxy Policeman and see if he was the type that would help him in his quest for the destruction of Jurai. He turned his attention to his long range sensors. Two Jurai type vessels were hanging off at a long distance, one was tsunami and the other he didn't recognize. The second Jurai ship didn't even look like it was a Jurai ship. The computer's voice, a nice feminine sounding voice, spoke, "Computer, what was space pirate Ryoko wanted for?" The Bloody Angel nearly jumped for joy, someone else that hated Jurai as much as he! The trip to the Sol system was even better than he could have ever imagined. A display showed that the expert Galaxy Police pilot was nearly into docking position. "Computer, open up a communications link with Ryo-Ohki." The computer said nothing but went about its task. There was a short delay, then another image display popped up. A short woman with long red hair stood at her end of the displayer looking at him. "Hello." he said to the red haired woman, "Are you Ryoko?" A much taller woman with blue hair came into view. "I'm Ryoko. Release the Galaxy Police ship immediately." The Bloody Angel held up his hands, "Now hang on, we can make a deal. I am on my way to Jurai. I know that you attacked them years ago. If you get me the Jurai royal family you have with you, without a fight, I'll let you join me in my conquest to destroy all of Jurai." "Not interested." She looked at him with disgust. Anger filled him, he hated it when people looked down their noses at him, a thing the people of Jurai did all the time. "I don't much care for your tone, watch yourself, I'm in control of this situation. The GP pilot will stay aboard, and I will have the members of the Jurai royal family. Whether you join me or not." "Get lost you creep." said the red haired woman. He looked down at her, "And who are you, you annoying little thing." That got the desired affect. "I am Washu, the greatest genius scientist in the universe. You aren't going to be getting anyone, and you are not going to reach Jurai." The Bloody Angel laughed at her, "Are you going to try and stop me? Fine then, come on." Ryo-Ohki's engines blazed to life and the ship sped towards him. Tsunami used its cloaking device and disappeared from view. The Bloody Angel cut off the communications signal and looked at the video transfer of the hanger, a large droid had the pilot's arms and legs clamped and was carrying her. There was no sound coming from the display, but he could see that she was making quite a ruckus. "Computer, power up the anti-Jurai weapon now. And target Jurai ship Ryo-Ohki." The laser fire continued. Ryo-Ohki dodged and weaved past lasers and returned fire. Ryo-Ohki's lasers diffused harmlessly on the 'Shadow Demons' shields. Laser fire blasted from empty space, Tsunami was cloaked and launching a powerful attack, Tsunami's laser fire was the most powerful type he'd seen other than a planetary based weapons platform. "Computer, get a trace on Tsunami then employ counter cloaking measures." The computer followed the path that Tsunami's laser came from, it was moving constantly so getting a lock was difficult, The Jurai ship was decloaked by the Shadow Demon's advanced counter measure devices. An explosion caught the Bloody Angel's eye as he was looking at Tsunami, he turned and saw that Ryo-Ohki had suffered a direct hit. "Computer cease fire." The laser fire stopped again, "Pull Ryo-Ohki in and bring put the crew in the brig with the other pilot." Tsunami continued to rain laser fire on him. The forward lasers were down to ninety-nine percent, nothing to worry about. he ignore the lasers as his weapon continued to charge. He smiled, this day was going very well, the best he had had in a long time. "Target Tsunami and fire the anti-Jurai weapon. Full power." He leaned forward, now was the moment he had been waiting for, the real test. Huge bulkheads slid open on the hull of his ship and a massive cannon raised up. Green light pulsed through the raised weapon, more electronic components raised and opened. The entire ship was shaking from the power, the Bloody Angel gripped the arms of his chair tightly, in fear of flying out. It stopped. The Bloody Angel looked around, nothing was happening, then he saw it, his face came alive with awe and wonder. the huge cannon shrieked as it released a huge ball of condensed pure energy. The bloody Angel was thrown from his seat by the recoil of the massive weapon. He looked up and watched the blast scream towards Tsunami. The Jurai ship turned and displayed all ten of it's Light Hawk wings. The ball of energy slammed into the ten wings and continued to push at them. Just as his fears began to rise, the wings collapsed. Tsunami exploded. A massive nova radiated outward and shook the 'Shadow Demon' as it passed by. The Bloody Angel stood up and looked at the wreckage of the once most powerful ship in the universe, his mouth agape. The awe swept through him even stronger. He screamed with triumph, he screamed with joy. He held his arms up, did a jig, and shouted his praise to his holy weapon. He sat down in his chair, tears of joy rolled down his face. Then it hit him. "Computer, display video data from the brig." Several images appeared showing him the different cells. He saw the GP pilot, he saw Ryoko, and he saw the pissy little scientist. There were no members of the Jurai royal family aboard his ship. "NOOOOO!" he screamed and slammed his fist into the arm of his chair, the whole thing buckled downwards. "AHHHHHHHH!" Through his own stupidity he had gotten carried away and blasted Tsunami into micro-particles, without a single member of the damned royal family aboard his fucking ship. He slammed his fist down onto his computer terminal, sparks blasted out. He sat thinking, shaking with rage, about how he would get the extra advantage over Jurai now. He pushed it all away from him and decided that his holy weapon would be all that he needed to defeat Jurai. "Computer, lower command center to deck level." The platform lowered slowly, when it reached the bottom the whole thing fit into an open hole in the floor, only a thin seem could be seen around the base of the platform and the deck. He stepped off and walked slowly of to the bulkhead that led to the winding hallways. He planned to make a stop at the brig. As he left he failed to notice that something was wrong in the hundred square foot video display of the hangar bay. Ryo-Ohki was no where to be seen. ----- CHAPTER 4: Hyperspace Ryo-Ohki hopped down the sterile, winding corridors. She could sense where Ryoko was being held and was trying to get there as fast as possible. She had been injured during the attack and was leaving small droplets of blood as she hurried. After the battle she would regenerate herself. Ryo-Ohki raised her hackles as she smelled another being. In no condition to fight, she materialized through a nearby wall and came out in some sort of crews' quarters. She sat and waited for a moment then peeked through the wall. A red haired man had just passed by, the Bloody Angel, she recognized him from the transmission earlier. He was headed for the brig as well. Ryo-Ohki jumped all the way out of the other room and followed the man from a long distance behind. He swaggered with arrogance as he walked to brig. The urge to clamp onto was his leg with her sharp teeth was very strong. Ryoko, for some reason was unable to escape the room she was being held in, it was most likely surrounded by a shield. She stopped and leaped through a wall as he turned around suddenly, he must have heard me, she thought. Ryo-Ohki could sense that he was moving again and she continued her chase. He stopped at a large bulkhead and typed five digets into a keypad just off to the side, there was a large hiss and the door raised up into the wall above. She peeked into the room as he entered, Ryoko and Washu were in a room with three walls, the fourth wall was a screen of red light, a powerful particle shield. She saw Ryoko give her a glance, *wait until he is gone.* spoke Ryoko's voice in her mind. Ryo-Ohki understood and waited behind a corner of a four way passage, Ryoko was keeping her link up and she could see all that was going on. The Bloody Angel stopped first at Mihoshi's cell, he had to cut of the com channel into the room, she was screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. He stared at her with amazement, unable to figure how such a cry baby had managed to pull the maneuvers he had seen. He waved his hand in dismissal and decided to come back later when she was calm. He walked to the cell where Ryoko and Washu were being held. "Hello Ryoko." the Bloody Angel bowed extravagantly and looked Ryoko in the eyes. "I'm sorry for my treatment of you, I had my mind on other things." He eyed Washu for a moment. "I am going to offer you a final chance to join me in my quest. Together we can destroy Jurai and start our own empire that we can both rule." he smiled at her. Ryoko ignored his offer, "What have you done to Tenchi? Tell me!" She balled her hands into fists in anger. "Who? Oh, the crown prince of Jurai. I'm afraid he was aboard Tsunami when I incinerated it with my new super weapon, most likely nothing left but space particles." Ryoko screamed, the anger and sorrow flooded into Ryo-Ohki, and slammed her fist into the shield, "You bastard." she slammed her fists over and over into the shield, "BASTARD." The Bloody Angel shrugged and looked at the red haired wench, she looked to be hit hard by the information as well. "Oh my, well I best calm you down." Ryo-Ohki saw him push a button just next to the entrance to the cell. Ryo-Ohki felt searing pain coming from Ryoko, then the link was cut. Ryo-Ohki tensed up and beard her teeth, he would pay for hurting Tenchi and her friends. The bastard came out of the brig and smoothed down his flight suit. He walked towards the intersection, and as he reached it she jumped and clamped her fangs onto the man's left hand. He screamed in surprise and pain, and began to flail his arm wildly. His desperate attempt was unsuccessful because of her death grip onto him. He ran back into the brig and started slamming her into the wall. Pain racked her as she was slammed over and over into the wall, finally it was all too much, and she let go. Cursing and cradling his raggedly wounded hand he punted her into the cell next to Ryoko and Washu. He slammed his good hand onto the shield activator and she was sealed in. Ryo-Ohki watched him as she panted on the ground, he cursed her some more, then left. Ryoko tried to speak with her but it was too late, she was almost dead and she had to regenerate herself. Ryo-Ohki closed her eyes and died. ----- Light flooded into his vision and he gasped for air. Images flashed and swirled in his vision then after a time, he was not sure how long, they passed. Tenchi stared up at the ceiling of a strange hallway, "Where am I?" he whispered to himself. "Tenchi?" He heard a voice. A voice? Who was with him, he couldn't remember. "Tenchi? Oh Tenchi, are you okay?" He suddenly remembered the owner of the voice. "Sasami?" He got to his knees, Ayeka was sprawled on the floor but she seemed to be in all right condition, Sasami looked well also. "Wh-What happened." Tears were rolling down Sasami's face, "Tsunami...Tsunami was destroyed." She began to sob and grabbed onto Tenchi, "Tenchi." He held her tightly and tried to comfort her. Ayeka groaned and sat up. "Lord Tenchi?" She looked around, "We're aboard the 'Shadow Demon', then that means that Tsunami is..." She trailed off as she saw Sasami clinging to Tenchi, it was all the answer she needed. There was something in Sasami's hand. "Sasami," Sasami looked up at her through tears, "What do you have there?" Sasami let go of Tenchi and looked down at her clenched fist, she opened it, inside was a large seed. Sasami's eyes brightened, "Tsunami's seed!" She smiled through her tears and wrapped her arms back around Tenchi, "All of her essence and life force is in the seed, I can bring her back to life." Tenchi smiled, though they had suffered a great loss, it could be fixed, his smile evaporated after he remembered where he was. "We have to go find Mihoshi, Ryoko, and Little Washu." "And poor Ryo-Ohki!" added in Sasami. Tenchi nodded and they got up, Tenchi held his hand out and assisted Ayeka. They looked around at the halls. They all looked the same. "So, where to now?" Asked Tenchi as he looked down the halls. Ayeka looked around. "Lets go that way," she pointed down one of the hallways, "Maybe we can find some computer terminal and pinpoint our location. This ship is so huge we could wander in here for days." They began walking, the halls all looked the same to Tenchi, the same markings over and over, the same writing. It seemed as though there was no end to the labyrinth. They continued to walk but they found no computers anywhere. Klaxons suddenly started blaring, the three looked around, trying to figure if they had somehow tripped an alarm. A feminine voice echoed down the metallic hallways "INTRUDER ALERT...ALL DEFENSE SYSTEMS ACTIVATED ON DECK 23...CLOSING ALL BULKHEADS." Tenchi looked around. Huge metal doors began lowering down to seal them off. "Lord Tenchi!" cried Ayeka. She jumped and knocked him down. He heard the whine of a laser blast hitting the deck next to him. "We have to hurry!" The bulkheads were huge, but they were lowering slowly, "There was an elevator back a ways, it's our only chance!" Tenchi picked up Sasami and ran with Ayeka, they ducked their heads under the bulkheads as they continued to lower. Tenchi jumped and weaved to avoid automated laser fire from turrets that had opened up in the walls. All the bulkheads were lowering at the same rate, they were almost all sealed off now, "There! It's in that next room." Ayeka fell to the ground and rolled under the bulkhead, Tenchi threw Sasami through as gently as he could then he slid through the narrow crack. The bulkhead clanged loudly as it locked into the floor. He looked around with a sigh of relief, everyone was fine, they had made it to the elevator. He pulled himself forward but couldn't move. Tenchi looked back, the back of his robes were pinned under the closed door, that had been a close one. He jerked at them and ripped himself loose. Everything seemed to be fine, there were no laser turrets here. Tenchi put his hand on a smooth metal plate that was mounted next the door. The panel flashed red and beeped at him, nothing else happened. "Let me give it a try lord Tenchi." She moved forward and he stepped clear. Ayeka spread her legs and gave a battle cry, she swung her fist forward and an energy wave blasted the elevator bulkhead inward. The huge metal door fell down the shaft, Tenchi leaned down to look and felt intense vertigo. The shaft descended a very long ways, he couldn't see the bottom, he watched the door continue to fall until it was too small to see. "Were going up, lord Tenchi." Ayeka pointed at a ladder that was built into the elevator shaft wall. Tenchi gripped the corner of the wall and looked up, it wasn't too far to the top, but the climb would be hard. He nodded, "All right, lets go. Sasami I'll give you a piggy back ride up." he knelt down and let her grab onto him. Ayeka went first, she held tightly onto one of the corners and reached for the ladder on the side wall. She made it on, then Tenchi did the same. He climbed the steps, panting under the strain of having to carry the additional weight of Sasami. He nearly lost his grip as the whole ship shook violently, a wave of Nausea passed through him. "What was that?" He asked up to Ayeka. The words echoed. "We've entered Hyperspace, this ship uses very large drives and travels much faster than other large cruisers, so the affects of Hyperspace travel are felt more strongly." The words seemed to echo forever down into the shadowy depths. Tenchi gulped and then continued to climb, every muscle screamed in agony as he climbed the last few hundred rungs. After a while they were near the top, Tenchi heard a deafening boom as Ayeka knocked down the bulkhead for the top deck's elevator. He watched her pull herself up and over onto the deck, Tenchi followed using up the last of his strength to get up the final rungs. He pulled himself onto the deck as well and collapsed, Sasami let go and he lay panting and groaning in agony, his muscles were cramped everywhere. Tenchi was too tired to go on. They laid there, catching their breath for several minutes. He knew that his friends were in danger, but he could be of no use to them exhausted. No, he thought, I can't rest. My friends need me. He pulled himself and then helped Ayeka, "Let's hurry." Ayeka nodded and they continued running. The Bloody Angel sat waiting in his command chair, the intruders were coming his way. He grinned at his luck, the Jurai family was aboard his ship, minus one, prince Yosho wasn't with them and there was no way he would have stayed on Earth all alone, unprotected. He shrugged, three was good enough. He gripped his bandaged hand, the little creature had been ferocious. He had been stupid and let his guard down. He had made a stop by the armory after patching up his hand. A very large weapon sat in the Bloody Angels lap. It was a special made weapon, using the same technology as his big super cannon. It would blast through the Jurai prince's Light Hawk wings. He had sliced into encrypted files that had been sent to GP headquarters, from a detective called Mihoshi. The report stated that the little prince could generate Light Hawk Wings. Not wanting to take any chances, the Bloody Angel had another anti-Jurai weapon made. It packed a punch. The weapon was beautiful, he held it lovingly. The Barrel was two feet long and contained powerful cooling units, the air friction of the blast alone could slag the barrel if not for the coolant units. The recoil of the weapon was intense, the energy source was a specially modified j-class cell, charge time was fast if the blast setting was low. The Bloody Angel stood and held the gun firmly in hands, a handle was on the top of the gun to allow greater ease in lifting the heavy weapon. He reached down and set the power to it's lowest setting, he didn't want to kill the boy, just render him incapable of fighting. He planted his feet very wide, lowered the small cannon, and waited. Tenchi walked to the end of the sterile hallway. This one was different from all the others, different markings, and the like. The hallway ended at a very large and strong looking bulkhead. Tenchi stepped aside and to let Ayeka handle the door. As Ayeka drew her arm back, preparing to strike, the door slid slowly open. Ayeka dropped her fist and peered into the command center of the colossal dreadnought. The bridge was a massive dome, a command center appeared to be built into the deck. Tenchi's eyes caught the Bloody Angel, but he didn't have enough time to evade the energy blast roaring towards him. Tenchi reacted instinctively and threw his arms out. Light shimmered over him and three Light Hawk wings appeared in front of his outstretched arms. The green ball of condensed energy rammed powerfully into Tenchi's light hawk wings. Sparks flew as the two powers struggled against one another. Tenchi planted his feet wide but the powerful energy blast that was attacking his shield was pushing him back slowly. Tenchi panicked, the energy was slowly piercing his light hawk wings. He reacted faster this time, his arms moved faster than the human eye could follow. The light hawk wings coursed over his body and he created the light hawk sword, in a matter of milli-seconds. His sword lunged forward and the green energy was deflected away. Tenchi assumed a battle stance and held his sword at the ready. The Bloody Angel laughed mockingly at Tenchi, "Nice trick boy, but it wont save you. This gun can put out a hell of a lot more energy than you can handle. Here, lets give it a try." The Bloody Angel pressed a button on the gun a few times and smirked. "Let's see you stop this one." He pulled the trigger and green light coursed from the gun, faster and much more powerful than the last attack. Tenchi held up his left arm and materialized a light hawk shield. The second blast hit Tenchi's shield. Sweat poured down Tenchi's face as he concentrated on defending against the energy. He screamed and fell to his knees, near the end of his physical limits. The green energy finally penetrated Tenchi's defense. The Light Hawk shattered into thousands of pieces, which then disappeared, and Tenchi was hit by the blast. He was thrown all the way to the far side of the bridge, landing on his back, and sliding all the way to the wall. Tenchi teetered on the brink of consciousness, then fell over into the abyss. Ayeka stepped forward and created her dimensional barrier around the Bloody Angel. He smiled at her, daring her to try it. "I have you now!" screamed Ayeka. The barrier activated and the energy flow began to seal in the Bloody Angel, but then something happened, the shield halted it's progress. Ayeka pushed harder with her Jurai power, but still nothing happened. Then at last something did happen, the shields energy began to flow in reverse. Ayeka's eyes widened and she rushed to stop the energy coming back her way. The Jurai energy was not halted by Ayeka's feeble attempt and it rammed into her. several of her ribs broke and she was slammed into the closed bulkhead of the entrance way, Ayeka flopped to the ground, there was large dent in the steel where she had hit. The Bloody Angel stood in victory, he turned and grinned horribly at Sasami. Sasami cringed against the far wall, tears poured down her face, "NOOOOO!" she screamed at him. Inside she was shrieking, what could she do, she was all by herself now. TSUNAMI! she cried helplessly in her mind. In her hand, unbeknownst to both Sasami and the Bloody Angel, within the seed of Tsunami, life began to stir. ----- "There!" cried Washu happily as the shield of the prison cell lowered. The shielding mechanism used wasn't that advanced, it was just a matter of slicing into the main computer, while also trying to do the data slicing in a room with high electrical discharge, which would have been impossible for any one else but the great Washu. Washu walked to Mihoshi's cell and Ryoko went to open Ryo-Ohki's cell. Washu lowered Mihoshi's shield and what felt like a hundred decibels of crying hit her. "Mihoshi, calm down!" Mihoshi cried happily and lunged forward, her arms wrapped tightly around Washu's middle. Washu desperately tried to push away the GP detective that was cutting off the circulation to her legs. Eventually she was able to get Mihoshi off and somehow got her quite, now that was truly a miracle. Ryoko stood waiting for the two, in her hands she gently held Ryo-Ohki, who was regenerating within an large egg. "We must find the Bloody Angel, he will die for what he has done to Tenchi." Washu nodded her ascent to Ryoko. Ryoko pulled of her gem from her ear and held it tightly in her left hand. Energy coursed down quickly from her hand and enveloped her whole body changing her into her battle outfit. The gem materialized out of her hand and onto the inside of her wrist. With confidence Ryoko and Washu left the brig. Mihoshi had been studying the control module and turned to ask Washu a question, but the two were gone. "AHHHHHH!" screamed Mihoshi, "They always leave me behind. Hey wait up!" She bolted down the corridors, turning this way, then that way. She stopped finally and leaned over, panting loudly, tears pouring down her eyes, "I-I'm losssssssssst." Tenchi leaned up slowly and grabbed at his aching ribs, he saw the Bloody Angel on the other side of the bridge, so far away. He could hear the red-haired man speaking. "-it's only a matter of time now little one. My ship is in Hyperspace and I'm almost to Jurai. And when I get there, I'll have my revenge, the planet of Jurai will become a wasteland, a graveyard. They will all pay for their crimes." "STOP!" roared Tenchi. The Bloody Angel turned to look back at him. "What?" he asked. The Bloody Angel laughed, "Why should I?" Tenchi groaned and stood up, wiping away blood that was pouring from his mouth, his anger was immense, "No crime could ever warrant the destruction of an entire planet, what has Jurai done to you to have you hate them so much?" "THEY KILLED MY FAMILY!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, "MY MOTHER, MY FATHER. THEY KILLED MY LITTLE SISTER..." He stopped and lowered his head, Tenchi could hear him sobbing. The bloody Angel wiped away his tears and looked back up at him, "My sister was so young, we used to go to the crystal springs on my planet. The look in her eyes filled my heart with such joy. I will never know that joy again, my sister will never know that joy again. MY WHOLE PLANET IS DEAD!" He grabbed the clothes at his chest and ripped them off in anger. He shook his fists at Tenchi, "This is the reason I hate Jurai and all it's people, this is why they must all die!" The Bloody Angel screamed again and raised his gun up high. He held the barrel and readied himself to swing it, intending to smash Sasami's skull with the butt of the gun. He heaved with all his might, the gun moved in a deadly arc. The gun was knocked from the Bloody Angel's hands by a bolt of energy. He turned to face his new opponents. Ryoko and the scientist stood at the entry way. He grinned malignantly at the them and shouted a war cry. The two stood there ground. The Bloody Angel brought up his left hand and pressed a button on his wrist computer. Several areas on the deck of the bridge began to open and large laser turrets rose up from them. They all began to rotate and train their guns on the two new comers. "FIRE!" he screamed. The laser turrets released their ballistic fury. Washu raised her hand and the blasts slid harmlessly the shield she created. Ryoko saw the Bloody Angel run for his dropped gun and she charged after him. Laser turrets followed her movements, but she was able to dodge every blast. He picked up his gun and opened fire on Ryoko. She dodged three rapidly fired blasts from his gun but was struck on the side by a laser from the auto-turrets. Ryoko quickly turned her attention to evading the turrets' fire and was hit dead center by the Bloody Angel's laser fire. She lost control of her flight and slammed painfully into the deck. The Bloody Angel turned and cried in surprise as he saw the little red-haired scientist almost upon him. She was wielding an energy sword. Washu swung at him but the ship's energy barriers kept the sword from even touching the Bloody Angel. As she was surprised by the failure of her attack, the Bloody Angel rammed the butt of his gun into her face. She staggered and fell. He panted and stood tall with victory. The Bloody Angel grinned and stretched his arms out to his side, his muscles rippled, the uniform that he wore covered it up, but now that he was bare chested it was quite obvious. He looked around at his fallen enemies. The crown prince of Jurai was standing, but was in no condition to fight. The little princess was gone. He looked around to make sure, but he saw her no where. "Well prince. It looks like it's just you and me." Mihoshi stumbled from the hatchway and looked around, she had somehow made it to the bridge, her ship was docked a short distance from her. Mihoshi cheered and ran for her ship. She went up the ramp and entered the cockpit. Yukinojo lowered, "Mihoshi! Your back! I was very worried about you." Mihoshi waved her hand and sat in her chair, grimfaced. "Yukinojo, now is not the time, we've got to get to Jurai and warn them of this ship." Yukinojo looked at her, "I'm afraid that's not possible, the 'Shadow Demon' has drives that are much faster than ours, it would out run us if we tried." But of course Mihoshi's mind was set and nothing would change it. She had never felt more determined before. Mihoshi's ship lifted off the deck and retracted it's landing gears, she hit the throttle and blasted from the hanger bay. The GP ship exited the 'Shadow Demon', which was already in Hyperspace. Mihoshi's ship swerved out and moved along the side of the 'Shadow Demon'. Only the sublight drives of her GP ship were engaged, the only reason she was in hyper space was because the 'Shadow Demon' had given her the boost. Mihoshi reached forward and pressed her Hyperspace activator. Then something even Washu couldn't have predicted happened. As the hyperdrive on her ship activated it distorted the fabric of hyper space astronomically, the dimensional anomaly sling-shotted Mihoshi even faster into Hyperspace, faster than any ship had ever traveled. Mihoshi breached time and space as she hurtled towards Jurai, traveling at five times the speed of light, leaving the 'Shadow Demon' millions of miles behind in a fraction of a second ----- Sasami curled up into a ball and cried in the cold sterile hallway, there was nothing she could do now, they were all doomed. Nothing could stop the massive ship from destroying Jurai. Light suddenly flared up from her closed hand. Sasami opened it and looked at her opened palm, the seed of Tsunami blazed like the white star of Malak. A voice rang clear in her head, "Sasami, you must stop crying, the people of Jurai need you." "I can't." she said out loud to Tsunami, "Everyone else couldn't even hurt him, how am I supposed to do anything." The voice in her head was confident, "When this ship re-enters Realspace outside of Jurai it's going to begin firing it's main gun. if you can disable it, we can stand a fighting chance." Sasami shook her head, "This ship is so huge, how am I going to find the way to the main gun, and how could I stop it?" She wanted to believe, but it seemed so hopeless. The seed floated up into the air and blazed even brighter. "Follow me Sasami, you must if you want to save your friends, family, and planet." It began to float down the hallway. Sasami got up and wiped her eyes. What else was there to do? Sasami followed the glowing guide. Several hours had passed. Washu, Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka where being held by robots, Ryo-Ohki's egg was sitting on a podium by the Bloody Angel. The Bloody Angel sat on his control chair and watched the unconscious people. The current ETA of Jurai was only twenty more standard minutes. The entire ship was powered up for a full scale battle. Jurai was the most powerful empire on this side of the galaxy, and he didn't intend on losing his glorious battle. The scientist was the first to wake up, she looked around bewildered. "Hello, finally awake I see." The victory over the motley band of warriors had boosted his morale. Washu spat at him, "You bastard! What have you done with Sasami?" The Bloody Angel shrugged, "She's off somewhere, ran away in fear from my wrath. It's only a matter of time before she is found cowering somewhere. The Galaxy Police pilot, however, has abandoned ship like the cowardly lot she works for." Mihoshi had obviously left for help, but Washu doubted that was possible, the ship would arrive at Jurai long after Mihoshi would. Washu had to get free, she knew she had to stop the ship somehow. "Now that you have me, your going to have my body for yourself aren't you?" The Bloody Angel stared stunned at her, looking like he had just been slapped in the face. "W-what?!" he stammered. "Come come now, the thought has occurred to you, after all I'm a beautiful woman and I'm helpless to you. A strong man like you could take me to his bed if he wanted." She was playing him right into her hands. A lustful glint appeared in his eyes and he walked to her. "Oh no!" cried Washu in mock horror, "You have a thing for small girls don't you?" He moved his face near hers and closed his eyes as he kissed her lips. The scientist's lips were cold and stiff, as he opened his eyes he jumped with a start. The little scientist was gone, and a big doll that kind of looked like Washu had taken her place. The Bloody Angel stepped back and looked around, the little scientist was gone. "Damn!" he said, The Bloody Angel walked to his controls and activated the corridor defense system, "That little bitch tricked me, but I'll have her head." The control room enormous, Sasami gasped in awe at the huge cavern that housed the giant gun's mechanical parts. The gun looked like it drained as much power as an entire city. Where to start? The place was huge, she was going to throw a monkey wrench into the gears, so to speak, but how? Tsunami stopped and spoke in her again, "Here we are Sasami, you have to stop the gun somehow, I can't help you with this, it's all up to you now." Sasami groaned, all up to her now huh. She walked to a small computer terminal and looked at the advanced controls, she couldn't understand any of it. A voice echoed loudly in the cavernous room, Sasami looked around, it was Washu she realized, on the PA. "Sasami. Sasami can you hear me?" Sasami looked up at one of the small cameras. "I'm here Washu! I need your help." An holographic image of Washu materialized in front of the small camera. "Sasami, I'm on a remote computer unit clear on the other side of the ship, I can't get there in time to help you, but I can tell you what you need to do." Washu began on typing on her computer, which was out of view of the projection. Washu smiled as she found what she was looking for. "Now Sasami, listen carefully to me. You have to go to the catalyst mechanism, if you can destroy it the whole gun will be useless." Sasami looked confused, "Catalyst mechanism? Where is it, what does it look like?" Washu looked very nervous, "It's behind you, about four hundred, the schematics show that it's a large green gem, the whole thing focuses the energy of the blast." Sasami looked behind her and saw it. she began to leave but Washu began to speak again, "You must hurry Sasami...good luck, I believe in you." The holo-image disappeared and she was alone once more. Sasami sprinted for the gem tripping twice along the way. Sasami skidded to a stop and wrapped her arms around the massive gem. She pulled with all her might but the stone didn't budge. Sasami looked around and spotted a discarded pipe, she picked it up and ran back to the gem. Sasami raised the pipe and slammed it down on the gem, nothing happened. She gripped the pipe tight and slammed it down again, tears of frustration poured down her face. The feminine voice of the computer came over the PA, <...EXITING HYPERSPACE IN FIVE MINUTES, ALL CREW MUST STRAP INTO SAFETY HARNESSES IMMEDIATELY...> Sasami slammed the gem again to no avail. Time was running out. ----- CHAPTER 5: End Game The entire fleet of Jurai was waiting for the Bloody Angel, after the arrival of detective first class Mihoshi, the armada had been formed. The sheer amount seemed to be more numerous than the stars in the sky, but all of them would stand no chance against the anti-Jurai weapon that Mihoshi had spoken of. Aboard the Royal Flagship Mihoshi stood by the throne of Azusa, the Emperor of Jurai. The appearance of Mihoshi had caused an uproar, with only a few hours to get ready, they were ill prepared. ETA of the 'Shadow Demon' was sixty seconds. Crew was running left and right, cannons powered up and light hawk wings were readied. Mihoshi looked worriedly at the display of where the 'Shadow Demon' would exit Hyperspace. Thirty seconds. The ships of Jurai spread apart and began finishing the forming of flight groups. Every shape and size of ship was waiting there for death to come to them. Ten seconds. Mihoshi realized at that point that she should not be on the bridge, she should be on her own ship. It was her duty as a Galaxy Police officer to defend the innocent from the evils of the galaxy. "I'm going to my ship to help fight." she declared and then marched away. Azusa watched as the counter clicked down. Three...two...one... The space in front of them distorted and twisted, it slid open like cloth being ripped. Out of the hole in Realspace a ship pulled out. The ship continued coming. Azusa stared in amazement at the mighty warship, the scanners measured it as almost five miles from bow to aft. He stood and spoke, "All ships attack." He watched as his fleet moved to intercept. If death would come this day, he would accept it with honor and courage. The Bloody Angel sat in his command chair, which was now elevated several hundred feet in the air. The remaining three of his captors watched as he began his attack. The bloody Angel watched with grim confidence as he opened fire on the Jurai ships with his particle cannons. <...ANTI-JURAI WEAPON CHARGED...POWER OUTPUT AT 100 PERCENT...> "Computer: lower output to ten percent and fire anti-Jurai weapon at random targets." He watched as the several Jurai ships exploded, shields were still at a hundred percent. <...COMPLYING...> The ship shook as the cannon rose up from opened bulkheads. Green light flared from the gun as it fired, a single blast every ten seconds. The power was adequate enough to destroy the weak Jurai ships. He laughed as hundreds died from his barrage. Though he was finally here at Jurai, he felt no relief of his undying pain and sorrow. I can rectify that, he thought, I'll take out the emperor and bombard the planet with high-yield tactical nukes. "Computer: Change of orders, increase output of Anti-Jurai weapon to a hundred percent, and target the Jurai flagship. Fire as soon as the charge time is complete." he smiled as he watched the large flag ship. <...COMPLYING...ONE MINUTE ENCOUNTING...> Sasami was screaming and slamming the gem wildly, over and over. The green light had been flaring continuously through the gem, she knew that she had to stop it for the future of all Jurai. She didn't pause her attack even when the light stopped. Sasami at last threw down the pipe and tried to calm herself, thinking of a way to break the gem. She did wonder why the gun wasn't firing, hoping that the attack was over. Green electricity began to sizzle along a giant machine several hundred meters away, a voice was screaming in her head. The gun was preparing a massive blast. She had only one chance, an idea flashed in her mind. "That's it!" she cried. Sasami embrace the gem and began to speak, summoning the Jurai powers within her. "By the royal seal in my true name, please open the path to our ancestors the space trees." light began to flare from the markings on her forehead, "Heaven to ocean, ocean to earth, earth back to heaven. Show me the path engraved by the light." She dematerialized and was sent through dimensions, back to her father, carrying the gem along with her. Washu watched the display count down, the gun was almost ready to fire. "Please let her have broken the gem." she prayed. Shivers ran down her spine as the counter was on it's last stretch. Jurai's future hung in the balance, this was the deciding point. <...ANTI-JURAI WEAPON ENGAGING...> the computer spoke quickly and then the timer hit zero. Washu watched the holo-vid which displayed the mighty cannon, she held her breath. Light and electricity began to travel up the gun. "NO!" she cried, but the gun didn't fire. It exploded. The whole ship shook as tremendously, Washu was thrown through the air landed against another computer terminal behind her. She groaned, she hadn't expected the gun to explode. "Oh No!" Washu remembered at last that Sasami had been within the gun. "Oh my God. Sasami." Washu held out her hand, as if she was trying to pull back Sasami to the land of the living. Washu fell to her knees and began to sob. The Bloody Angel gripped the edge of the platform, he had fallen over the side during the explosion, and was now hanging precariously. With a mighty effort he pulled himself up. "Computer: fire all ballistic weaponry at Jurai fleet, engage all particle weapons at one hundred percent and prepare all nukes in for immediate launch." The computer acknowledged his request, he stood shaking his fist at the Jurai fleet, his gun was gone, but he would destroy Jurai without it. More Jurai ships exploded in spherical balls of light, screams unheard in the vacuum of space. Dozens disappeared as ballistic missile struck them. A single GP ship was helping, the same pilot he had captured earlier. He saw his prisoners get free, but he didn't care anymore, let them leave if the wanted, all he cared about was the destruction of Jurai. <...ALL TACTICAL NUKES LOADING...COMPLETION IN TEN MINUTES...> He grinned humorously, shields were at eighty two percent, hull was at thirty three, thanks to the gun that had exploded. There was no way they could stop him in time. Tenchi limped down the hallways, helping Ayeka stand, Ryoko was on the other side of Ayeka, carrying Ryo-Ohki, "What do we go now?" asked Ryoko as they reached a fork in the passage way, "All the halls are the same, we'll never get off this damn ship." They looked both ways for a moment, unable to decide. "Go left." said a voice behind them. Ryoko pivoted quickly and saw Tsunami. "I thought you were destroyed." said Ryoko, still cautious. Tsunami shook her head and began to go down the left corridor, "Follow me." She then spoke to Ryoko, "I was able to send a seed with Sasami when she teleported off of me, I am already regrowing, but you'll need to get on an escape pod, I can't carry you." They walked down the hallways until the reached a unique one, the hall extended strait out for a long way, all along the left side there where bulkheads. Tsunami pressed a button and one of the heavy doors slid open. "Get in quickly, and good luck." Tenchi looked at Tsunami, "But what about Sasami and Washu, we can't leave them." "Don't' worry, they are safe." Tenchi and the others climbed into the small room and the bulkhead slid closed behind them. There was a hiss and the pod jettisoned. Tenchi looked out the porthole as they began to spiral away from the black dreadnought. Washu was back with renewed determination, half of the Jurai forces had been wiped out, and the rest didn't stand a chance with the shields of the 'Shadow Demon' still up. The conventional lasers of the ship could destroy a Jurai ship with light hawk wings up, but it was extremely difficult, and the Bloody Angel was exceedingly lucky. Washu leaned over the remote terminal and typed as fast as she could, she sliced through data and codes, diving deeper into the computer data-base. At last she broke the last code and a display came up. The shields were controlled by her now. With one press of the button the planetary shield surrounding the ship fell. The Bloody Angel screamed curses as the shields lowered around his ship, all his attempts to raise them again had failed. "I'LL TAKE JURAI TO HELL WITH ME!" he pounded his controls, he would still be able to wipe out the rest of the Jurai fleet before hull integrity was breached. Ships exploded in the view screen of his ship, lasers from ships slammed into his hull, the ship shook as each billowed into an explosion on the armored hull. He launched the last two hundred of his space-to-space missiles and screamed more. His sensors began to blare in alarm at him. The Bloody Angel looked up and saw that a ship had just entered Realspace. His brow wrinkled as he examined it. It was a Galaxy Police cruiser. Another appeared, then another, and then another. He stared in horror at his sensors as a dozen more appeared, then another dozen, then thirty, then one hundred. He shook his head in disbelief, "I-It can't be." They kept appearing from Hyperspace, the scanner continued to count. The appearance began to taper off, the scanner counted two hundred and thirty-one GP space cruisers. The cruisers had been called by Mihoshi, they were here at last, and the battle was decided at that moment. The Bloody Angel sat down in his command chair and sat tight lipid as he waited, he closed his eyes and thought only of his sister, maybe he had been wrong to seek vengeance, but now it was too late, death was here and it was ready to take him to the next life. A tear rolled down his cheek, "I'll be with you soon Elmina, my dear sister." Tsunami materialized in front of Washu. Washu looked up, "Hello Tsunami." Tsunami helped Washu up from the ground. "Come Washu, let's rejoin Tenchi and the others." Washu didn't respond but only nodded, "What's wrong Washu." Washu looked at Tsunami with red, wet, eyes, "Sasami is dead." Tsunami smiled and embraced Washu. "Sasami is safe aboard emperor Azusa's ship." Washu looked surprised as she was held in Tsunami's embrace. A smile of happiness appeared on her face and together they teleported to Azusa. Tenchi and the girls watched in amazement as the GP ships entered Realspace and attacked the Bloody Angel's ship. "Mihoshi pulled through!" shouted Ryoko in amazement. They watched as portions of the ship billowed into spheres of fire. They all could only hope that the others were safely off. A huge series of explosions ripped down the hull of the dreadnought as a much smaller GP dreadnought unleashed a massive laser barrage. Finally the hull gave way and the ship erupted in a massive explosion. The three cheered loudly in the cockpit as they watched the silent nova. Ryoko frowned after a moment then stepped back from the porthole, "Oh SHIT!" A class 3 shockwave slammed into the small pod and the occupants were thrown around like rag dolls. Alarms began roaring inside the escape pod as precious oxygen began seeping out of hairline cracks in the hull. Auto sealant filled up the holes quickly. The three laughed and hugged each other as the pod entered into the atmosphere of Jurai. They were safe, but more importantly, the people of Jurai were alive. The pod glowed red as it heated in the atmosphere. Tenchi gasped in awe as the red sun of Jurai rose over the horizon of the planet. Together with his friends he watch the sun rise. ----- EPILOGUE All that day Tenchi and his friends celebrated their victory on planet Jurai. Azusa, Misaki, and Funaho where there with them as they laughed and cheered, it was a time for rejoice and sorrow. As the celebrations went on in all the cities of Jurai night fell, the sky was filled by the light of thousands of chunks of metal burning up in Jurai's atmosphere. There where no fireworks, the fallout in the sky was a grim reminder of their losses, and enough to make them happy to be alive. Tenchi stood on the balcony, outside of the ballroom full of Jurai royalty, as he watched the artificial falling stars. Everyone had pulled through thankfully. Washu and Sasami had met them on the ground of Jurai after they had successfully made a splash down in Jurai's ocean. Mihoshi had said her good bye's and was now giving a full report to the Galaxy Police high command. Sasami and Ayeka were fidgeting uncomfortably as their mother, Misaki, held them and sobbed uncontrollably. Tenchi could hear her from all the way outside, "OH! My poor babies, I was so worried about you, mommy's here now, your safe!" She bursted into a fresh set of tears again. He heard footsteps behind him as someone stepped onto the balcony, he didn't turn, just looked at the falling debris. "Tenchi?" said Ryoko. He finally turned to her. Ryoko had tears in her eyes, she tried hold them back, but her she couldn't completely. Ryoko walked closer to Tenchi and threw her arms around him. At first he was going to back away, but then he stopped himself, Ryoko wasn't trying to seduce him. Ryoko had been worried about him, she had been through so much, she had seen him almost die twice. Tenchi held Ryoko to him as she cried softly into his shoulder. After several minutes she stopped crying, but didn't leave his embrace, she spoke to him, her face still pressed tightly against his chest, she could hear his heart beating softly. "I was so worried Tenchi, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." He didn't say anything, but she continued, "You've come to mean so much to me. It fills my heart with joy that I can be with you." He patted her back softly to let her know that he understood. "What's going on!" screamed Ayeka. Tenchi jumped and released his hold around Ryoko and began to stammer to Ayeka. Ryoko turned her face to Ayeka and blew a loud raspberry at her. Ayeka shook and clenched her fists tightly, "Why you rude, disgusting, annoying woman!" Ryoko let go of Tenchi and the two began fighting like they always did. Guests looked uncomfortably at the two and walked off to gossip. Tenchi sighed and looked into the ballroom, it was strange, he felt somewhat at home here on Jurai. It was almost a shame that he was going back to Earth the next morning. Washu beckoned him from inside the ballroom, and taking one last look at the death filled sky, he walked back into the ballroom, leaving Ryoko and Ayeka arguing on the balcony. Written by: Alan O'Kelly October 12, 1998