The characters of the Tenchi Muyo universe are the creation and possession of AIC and Pioneer
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Echoes In The Mist
Camille Christansen
echoesinthemist@angelfire.com
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~~ Chapter 17 ~~
	
	"When I die," Aeka announced to no one in particular, quoting from a poem called The Rebel. "I'm sure I will have a big funeral… since I am the first princess of Jurai." She ignored the blinking light that signaled an incoming message from the Keiji. "People will come to pay their respects," she continued, transforming into her fighting outfit. "While others will come to see if I really am dead." She stepped into the drop ship. "Or if it's another trick of mine."
	
	Aeka was proud to be a Juraian princess but sometimes, she was a little rebellious. She already disobeyed her father into staying with Tenchi, now she was marrying him. She knew it was right because she loved Tenchi. It was just that disobeying her father felt wrong. At least he let her, even though he didn't approve.

Seldom had there ever been any Juraian who went against the Juraian Empire. She could only name five people in the whole Juraian history: Yosho, Ashikaga, Tara, Masatsura, and some teenager called "the rebellious child." *What was her name again?* she thought.

	Aeka shook her head, wondering why she was thinking of this, as she typed in the command in the control panel. The doors closed and the small ship was released. She carefully maneuvered it under the Soujia II and attached the drop ship beside a hatch.

	Standing up, she opened the top of her ship and used the ladder to climb up. The hatch was slightly open when Aeka heard footsteps and voices. The floor was vibrating with each step. She quickly closed it again. Still, from outside and with the closed hatch, she could hear the conversation.

	"…then you just press the red button," a woman's voice said. Aeka guessed it was Ryoko's friend, Akari.
	
	"Right. What do you think Desumitsu would do if she got away?" a gruff voice asked. *Griffin.*

"Well, you're first on guard. Maybe if you're lucky, he'll give you a short quick death. But she shouldn't be able to get out without burning herself to death. What I'm worried about is that it may be easy though to get her out through some other means. Oh well, I'm going to sleep."

	"Fine. What happens if there's trouble?"

	"Then you stick her back in, genius."

	"No, I mean, what if someone, say some galaxy police, come."

	"Think with you head! If you can't handle them, take Mihoshi and scram. It's Ryoko Desumitsu wants, not the Galaxy Police. You don't have to accompany me, you know. Just turn around and go back to Mihoshi." Their voices were getting softer. 

Aeka smiled. Akari's last comment meant that Mihoshi wasn't far away.

	"I hope Desumitsu is right with all of this…" Griffin's voice turned into silence. 

Aeka waited one more minute before she opened the hatch and pulled herself up into the ship. It was a circular room with a huge machine in the middle.

Suddenly, Aeka heard Griffin coming back. She quickly jumped opened the door of the machine, stepped in and closed it. It was dark but Aeka could see a light bulb overhead. Her hand searched for a switch against the wall.

*Found it,* Aeka thought triumphantly. Then with a push of the button, the lights went on and a second later, Aeka disappeared.

*     *     *     *     *
 	
Where a garden filled with gold and beauty stood moments before, there was a conference room. A glass window spread on one side. There was a strange plant from a planet in one corner. In the middle of the room was a long table, surrounded with chairs. Washu sat at the very end with her equipment in front of her.

"Damn!"  Washu cursed, throwing off her headgear. She placed her hands on the transparent keyboard and started to type. Pressing the enter button, her equipment dissolved and Washu stood up. 

She walked through the arched doorway and into the main deck of Keiji. Ryoko sat in the middle, looking like she wasn't aware of what was happening at all around her. 

*She's talking to Ryo-ohki,* Washu figured after hearing Ryoko's thoughts. She walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Ryoko, you okay?"

"Huh?" Ryoko looked up in bewilderment. "Oh, yeah, Washu, I'm just great."

"I'm not..." Washu paused, wondering how to put it. She had to tell them about Sasami. She finished, "doing so well."

"You?" Ryoko snickered. "Why? What's up? It's not Aeka is it? Or Mihoshi? Ryo-ohki's doing great, if that's what you're worried about."

"None of the above. Sasami's dead."

Ryoko just stared at Washu. Then a smile spread across her face and she burst out laughing, practically falling off the chair. "Oh, that's the funniest damn thing I ever heard!" she hooted. Her boisterous laugh turned into small giggles. "You are kidding right?"

Insulted, Washu was glaring at her in anger. "Are you nuts, Ryoko? I wouldn't joke about a topic like this! She's dead, get it?"

Ryoko froze at her sudden out burst. "Wow," she breathed after a while. "I mean, wow. Like that huh? How'd it happen? How's Tsunami? She doing anything about it?"

Washu brushed her hand against her ear, calming herself down. "She looked kind of shocked," she shrugged, crossing her arms.

"Ok, well, just make sure your facts are straight. I mean, look at the conclusion you guys jumped into when I was gone."

*Tokimi was right,* Washu thought. *If only we had given the boxes. If only.*

Ryoko continued, "I bet Tsunami's reviving her right now. If she can't do something like that, maybe you could."

Washu nodded slowly, taking in the information. "Very observant Ryoko, very observant."

Ryoko leaned back in her chair with a smug grin.

"Think fast, Ryoko!"

A ninja star flew across the deck of the ship. Ryoko immediately hopped on her chair in a crouching position. Barely seeing her target, she blasted a fireball. A hot clump of melted metal dropped to the ground. Ryoko pushed herself off the chair to a standing position.

In front of her, on the far end of the ship, Hakusana whistled and took another ninja star from her wrist band. "Pretty good," she called, holding up the weapon. Her eyes twinkled and the star lit up in blue flames. "But that one was plain. Try this on for size!"

Ryoko raised her eyebrow and casually raised her hand up, shooting another fireball. To her surprise, the her shot completely dissolved as the two crossed paths. Yelping, she teleported away.

The ninja star continued onto Washu. She just glared at Hakusana making no move to get out of the way.

"Spoil sport," Hakusana sighed, making the star disappear, milliseconds before it hit Washu.

Washu shrugged and walked away.

"Liang, heads up!" 

Startled, Hakusana jumped away as a huge fire erupted from where she had been standing. "Ryoko, my ship!" Hakusana moaned.

"Sorry," Ryoko grinned. "You hit me first."

"Guys, you can destroy yourselves after we rescue the rest," Kiyone said, walking into the room with Tenchi. She stepped in between the two as Tenchi continued to walk toward Washu, who was watching the view.

"Yeah," Tenchi agreed. "Besides, we're there already."

*     *     *     *     *

Aeka stood still, in the shadow of a wall in the Soujia. She was on a small round platform and not in the machine anymore. *I probably teleported,* she concluded after a while. 

She stepped down the platform and scanned the place. No on was around but now, she had no idea where she was. carefully started walking toward a door. It had no handles but once she came close enough to it, it parted into three sections that had been completely invisible a moment before.
	
	The moment she stepped into the room of dull metal, door closed behind her and light filled the room. Computers and monitors appeared, lining the walls.

	*So far, so good,* Aeka thought seating herself at the computer. She flipped through the projections of the design of the ship. Stopping at the brig design, Aeka studied it for a moment. Then she looked at the monitor where Mihoshi lay. "Gotcha."

	Aeka moved ever so quietly again out of the room. She walked around the corridor, hoping she remembered correctly. She entered a huge dome-like room. It's metal walls glowed a faint black flicker.

	Then a hand grabbed her from behind. Aeka swallowed her scream, and produced a forcefield. Instead of the normal transparent color, she made it mix with the color of the room so that she was camouflaged. No one could see her but she could see them.

	"I think I felt something," V said, stepping through the wall. She was blindfolded. Rosco stepped through the wall too, guiding her.

	When Aeka looked closely, she realized it was like the other walls. It had no glow and it looked like it was made of jelly. It was probably a door.

	"It was probably nothing," Rosco answered.

	"Where are we going anyway?"

	"It's a surprise."

	"Rosco, you know that I can see through the blindfold."

	"I know."

	"So just take the blindfold off."

	"Fine, we're at the surprise anyway," Rosco said as he took the blindfold off.

	V smiled as the blindfold fell from her face. Her blue eyes gazed at her boyfriend. "Rosco, we're in the armory."

	"That's not the surprise. This is," he said as he bent down to kiss her.

	*Oh, how sweet. It's disgusting,* Aeka thought, partly grinning and partly frowning. Then her face turned into a complete scowl when another thought entered her head. *Tenchi and I are getting married and he hasn't even kissed me yet.*

*     *     *     *     *

	Washu materialized into the Soujia II. To her surprise, the inside looked nothing like the first. The outside looked like the Soujia, yes, but the inside was completely different.

	*This is too easy,* Washu thought suspiciously as she looked around. *Someone should have been shooting at us since we got in at least a 2-mile radius.

	"Hey!" Washu yelped as the others materialized above her. They fell on top of her, sending Washu to the floor face first.

	"Sorry Washu," Kiyone apologized, quickly getting off.

	Hakusana and Ryoko took a little longer to get off. Ryoko grinned at Washu. "Thanks for saving our fall, mom."

	"Get off!" Washu barked. "I thought you were professionals!"

	"Why are you with us anyway?" Ryoko asked irriatedly. She began walking down the hallway.

	"To make sure you don't do something stupid," Washu answered. "Like walk in front of a camera."

	Ryoko stopped cold and turned to look in front of her. Sure enough, there was a flying red ball that was scanning her up and down. Fuming, Ryoko gave a hard punch and sent it flying into a wall.

	Washu grinned.

	"Aw, shut up Washu!" Ryoko yelled.

	"You know what?" Hakusana asked as she watched the camera drop to the ground in pieces.

	"What?" Kiyone asked, staring at the pile of metal too.

	"I think we're going to be caught soon."

	"You think?" Ryoko replied sarcastically, tightening her fist as she tried to ignore Washu's irritating chuckles.

	"Actually," Washu commented, turning serious again. "I'm surprised we weren't already caught."

	"No, I mean, really soon," Hakusana looked at Kiyone.

	Kiyone noticed her staring and turned to look at her too, puzzled by her last coment. After a short pause, she asked, "You know what?"

	"What?"

	"I think you're right."

*     *     *     *     *

	Aeka wanted to sigh but she couldn't. It had been about 15 minutes since she was standing there, waiting for Rosco and V but they were still kissing each other. 

	Suddenly there was a beeping sound that came from Rosco and V. Aeka watched as the two continued kissing for a while. Then, Rosco sighed and pulled away. He looked at his watch.

	"Let's go," he said to V, taking her hand.

	"What happened?" She asked as they ran to the door.

	"We've got problems upstairs. It seems that…" his voice was cut as they stepped out of the room.

	Aeka sighed and dropped her force field. Moving quickly, she ran out of the armory room, through some corridors and into the circular room the with teleporting machine. A light flashed from inside and then it got back to normal again.

	Aeka opened the door and looked inside. No one was there. On a small screen, it read: last teleportation: main deck; 5:00 p.m. Jurai time.

	*Griffin probably teleported to go help with the problem,* Aeka thought, *whatever it was.* She ran to where Mihoshi was being held.

	"Miss Aeka!" Mihoshi cried happily. Instead of bars, electricity lined the opening to the room Mihoshi was in. "They got you too?"

	"I'm here to rescue you," Aeka snapped. "Do you know how to get out of this cell?"

	"Hm… I think Griffin has the control or was it Akari? You're suppose to press a code. What was it? I couldn't really hear them. 8-5-6-8? 9-6-3-1? Well, anyway, you press the blue button after that."

	"It's the red button," Aeka mumbled. "Oh never mind, Mihoshi. I'll get you out." She formed a force field and stepped through the electricity.

	"Yay! I'm free!" Mihoshi shouted happily, running to hug Aeka, but she only banged into the force field. "Ow."

	Aeka rolled her eyes and dropped the force field. She formed it again with Mihoshi in it. "Okay, walk close to me."

	The two walked through the bars of electricity. Mihoshi screamed again, "Yay! I'm free!" She ran happily, only to bang into the force field again.

	Aeka shook her head as she led Mihoshi into the drop ship. *Well,* she thought. *That was pretty easy! I just rescued her right under their noses!*

*     *     *     *     *

	"I think you're right," Kiyone said to Hakusana.

	Hakusana nodded and in a flash, they jumped to the side where Ryoko was. At the same time, a gun shot was heard. Akari had been behind Hakusana, holding a gun. She smiled evily and blew our the smoke from her pistol.

	"Not bad," she smiled. "I'm surprised you came Ryoko. I would have let them do the dirty work instead of risking your own life. When Desumitsu has you, your death is going to be much worse than what's in store for your friends."

	"Think again Akari," Ryoko retorted. "There are four of us and one of you."

	"No, I don't think so," Akari smiled.

	"What?!" Ryoko almost demanded when she felt a presence behind her. She spun around to see Rosco and V running up behind her.

	"You," Hakusana said in a low voice, so only Ryoko could hear though she directed it at V. Then she spoke so everyone could hear, "Finally! Let's get this over with."

	"I can't believe how desperate you are," V's voice turned cold. "You know you've already lost."

	Rosco, who looked majestically dashing, looking down at his feet when V said that. Haksuana noticed and smiled. "Nope, not just yet." She took a blade and lit it up with fire. Aiming perfectly, she threw it straight at V.

	V gave an icy stare at the object. It stopped in mid-air.

	"What?" Haksuana gasped. Suddenly, the object started to fly backwards at air. Hakusana growled angrily, a made the blade disappear.

	"It's still four against three," Ryoko said stubbornly.

	"No," A gruff voice spoke up. It was coming from the shadows of a corner. Slowly, Griffin appeared as he walked closer to the light. "I think it's more like four against three and a pipsqueak."

	"Look who's talking, bat-boy!" Ryoko mocked.

	"Hey, who are you calling a pipsqueak?" Washu yelled at the same time. She continued, "I happen to be the greatest scientific genius in the universe. I know you are mentally challenged to keep up with my intelligence but you don't have to classify me as a pipsqueak when it's obviously false!"

	Griffin had a bewildered look on his face. "What?"

	Ryoko laughed. "It's okay, bat-boy. We forgive you."

	"Oh well, I don't think that Griffin is the one we should worry about being forgiven," Desumitsu's voice boomed through the halls.

	It made Ryoko shiver. Kiyone stepped beside Washu, holding out her gun. Hakusana knew when to stop fighting with V. She jumped away and went back-to-back with the rest of the group.

	"Well, Washu," Kiyone breathed. "If you have any of your good ideas, this would be a good time for it."

	Washu smiled sadly as Desumitsu walked swiftly up to them. Despite her proud usual self, she was cowering in terror in front of this guy. There was something terrible about his presence that made her feel that way. *This is why I normal stay at home base,* she thought.

	"Well, well, Ryoko, three of your friends may not be here but that's all right. I have you."

	"Three friends?" Kiyone repeated.

	"Aeka came here and rescued Mihsohi. Your Tenchi friend isn't here either but that's fine. I can always make them come to me. But I don't care about the Juraians as much as I care for you."

	"I'm touched," Ryoko scoffed.

	Desumitsu's eyes flared. He held out his hand and tightened it into a fist, like he was squashing something. At the same time, Ryoko howled in pain like a snake had wrapped itself around her and was squeezing her to death. Desumitsu lifted his hand higher and Ryoko started to float, still in pain.

	"How?" she whispered meekly.

	Desumitsu turned his head sharply to look at her. Ryoko screamed again, tears streaming down her eyes. Smoke started to appear around her.

	"He's electrocuting her!" Washu yelled.

	Haksuana ran in front of Desumitsu and gave him a sharp uppercut. Kiyone caught Ryoko before she dropped to the ground. Desumitsu sat up, blood dripped from his mouth. "Red," he snarled. "You were always a good fighter."

	"You never knew me," Haksuana accused, partly surprised.

	"I was given the knowledge," Desumitsu explained, standing up. He waved his hand over her and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

	*What power!* Washu thought as Desumitsu waved his hand over her too.

*     *     *     *     *

	*Tenchi will love me so much for this,* Aeka thought happily. She glanced at Mihoshi who had food all over her side of the controls.

	"Chips Aeka?" Mihoshi offered, knocking some soda to the ground. "Whoops!"

	Aeka sighed and smiled, "No thanks Mihoshi." 

	Mihoshi said as she wiped up the spilled soda, "We can go to Jurai now. Me, Kiyone and Haksuana have already learned enough about Desumitsu. All we have to do now is capture him. Still, we are all safe."
	
	"Yeah, we're all safe."

*     *     *     *     *

	Terror struck Kiyone's eyes as Washu dropped unconscious to the ground. *We're all going to die.*
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End of chapter 17