Story c 2001 by Buggyness Tenchi and co are the property of Pioneer and AIC Comments? Reviews? Buggyness@hotmail.com Chapter 6: The Enemy Revealed "My God, Tenchi, can you see all of them?" Kiyone's asked, her concerned image imposing on the huge screen aboard Princess Ayeka's tree ship Ryo-ooh. "What can we do?" pleaded Mihoshi, on the verge of crying. "Galaxy Police cruisers! Please respond." Kiyone typed furiously on the command console of Yugami. "They are not answering us. The GP ships are silent. I'm not detecting any damage to them or the Jurai ships." "I will try to hale the Jurai ships." Ayeka retorted. "This is the First Princess of the Royal Family of Jurai, please respond." Nothing. "Do you think the transmission has been interrupted by the enemy ships?" Asked Tenchi. "No, Tenchi. Look." Said Yosho. "The ships are empty." He motioned to the closest GP star class cruiser. It passed Ryo-ooh at a very close range and as it did, the occupants could clearly see not one light, not one sign of movement in the ship. "Azaka! Kamadake! Please analyze these ships for life forms." "Yes, ma'am." The logs replied in unison. "What is going on?" Asked Ayeka. "Princes," replied Azaka. "We are not detecting any life forms upon the Galaxy Police ships nor upon the Juraian battle ships." "Are they, are they dead?" Asked Tenchi. "That is uncertain." Answered Kamadake. "However we are detecting 3.6 million Juraian life forms on the enemy ships. It seems that they are being transported to the ships from the planet as well. "They are kidnapping the people." Said Yosho. "But why?" Asked Tenchi. Suddenly, Ryo-ooh lurched to the left causing its occupants to stumble. "Status!" screamed Ayeka. "We are being pulled toward the large enemy ship by a tractor beam." Answered Azaka. "Take evasive actions." "Ryo-oh is not responding." "Kiyone! Are you in the beam too?" Asked Tenchi. "Yes, we have no control of the ship. Our weapons systems are malfunctioning." She answered. "Grandpa, can you give me the master key?" Yosho handed Tenchi the Sword. "I'm going to try to deploy the light hawk wings to deflect the tractor beam. Tenchi held the hilt of the sword before him. Ask he released his hands, the master key hovered suspended before him, its two red gems sparkled in the dim light. The boy brought both of his hands around the sword and he closed his eyes. Suddenly, three brilliant white propelor-like blades appeared before the ship. They slowly spun until the three blades merged into one white shield. The ship rocked back and forth. "Its working, Tenchi!" said Ayeka. Back on the big ship, Lord Zephr watched the situation closely with General Kenji beside him. "Three light hawk wings. This must be the ship carrying the warrior." "It doesn't look like much to me." Sniffed Kenji. "Perhaps. But it is successfully bypassing our tractor beam." He raised his eyebrow and turned to another crewman. "Focus the beam on that red ship over there and power up the destroyer. Open hailing frequency to that ship." "Tenchi!" screamed Mihoshi. We are still getting pulled in!" "Can.you., "stammered Tenchi, trying to focus on maintaining the shield. "Can you get behind Ryo-ooh?" "No, Tenchi, we are sitting ducks over here!" As Kiyone answered, the screen went to snow. "Juraian ship, please respond." The handsome face of Zephr appeared upon the screen. "Who are you?" Asked Ayeka. "My name is Zephr Watanabe of the planet Mirai. Please down your shield and prepare for transport to the main ship." "Are you kidding! We've come to stop you!" Tenchi answered with hostility. "Please. We are aware that the red ship beside you is defenseless, and we are preparing to fire our weapons on it if you do not lower your shield in Five, Four, Three,Two." "Ok!" yelled Tenchi, looking over through the bridge dome of Ryo-ooh to see the red ship carrying his friends, Kiyone and Mihoshi. He took his hands away from the Tenchiken and it fell to the ground. "What do you want with us?" "Please, prepare for transport." Tenchi just had time to look over at his grandfather and Ayeka as he dematerialized from Ryo-ooh. *** Tenchi, Ayeka, Yosho, Kiyone, and Mihoshi now found themselves aboard the enemy flag ship. They were standing in a huge gallery. Before them, seated on a plain chair was Zephr, his elbows leaning on the table before him. "Please, come, sit with me." He motioned to the group. "What should we do?" Ayeka asked. "We should sit." Yosho answered, walking toward their enemy. The others followed, each taking a chair at the table, all except Tenchi. "Please, sit," ushered Zephr. "No, I think I will stand." Tenchi answered with defiance. "Just what are you doing kidnapping the Juraian people!" He demanded. "Before I answer you, please tell me your name." "My name is Tenchi Masaki." "Tenchi?" He knew that name well. It came to him in his dreams sent by Lady Tokimi. This was the man he was seeking, seeking to lead him to destroy Tsunami. "Well, then." He smiled. "General Kenji!" "Here." "Are your scans of them completed?" "Yes. The purple haired girl and the old man house a very viable and powerful source of Jurai energy. The other two girls do not possess any viable source. This young man, however, is the strongest I have ever seen..in fact, his strength surpasses any of our computer simulations." "What are you talking about!" yelled Tenchi bringing his fists down on the table. "Tenchi!" Ayeka pleaded. "Release us and the people you have captive!" As he spoke, a mark formed upon his forehead in the shape of a downward pointing arrow. The mark glowed green. Three beautiful propellers appeared before the boy-the wings of the light hawk, wings to which only Jurai ships were supposed to generate. Through the wishes of the Goddess Tsunami, Tenchi had been born with this unusual power to generate and control light hawk wings. He intended to use them on this new enemy. Tenchi stretched before him both of his arms and the wings passed through his body and his clothes transformed into the glowing robes of Juraian warriors. He jumped back several feet and raised his right hand and in that hand, he formed a sword of light which he pointed toward Zephr. "Interesting." As he said this, Zephr raised out of his chair, letting it fall the ground. The others quickly got up and scrambled to get behind Tenchi. "Release those people or I will have to kill you." Tenchi threatened. "The will of my Goddess will not allow that." As he replied, a glowing half moon appeared upon Zephr's forehead and before him rotated his own light hawk wings-five of them. Like Tenchi, the blades passed through him and changed his clothes to brilliant white garments. Zephr formed his own red sword and as he did, his white robes turned to billowing black. He and Tenchi stared each other down. Suddenly, Tenchi realized a familiar hand on his shoulder. "Grandpa?" "Tenchi, this is a battle you cannot win." "I know, he has five light hawk wings. But what else can I do?" As he uttered his answer to Yosho, Tenchi lunged toward Zephr. The air smelled of char and ozone as Tenchi's blue sword clashed with Zephr's red sword. "I have an answer for you!" Zephr yelled as he blocked Tenchi's blow. "The only answer.you.have is to let the people go." Tenchi answered by slicing at his enemy's legs. "There is another solution." He panted, leaping up into the air, coming down behind Tenchi and holding his red sword to the boy's throat. Tenchi reached up and slung Zepher over him. "What!" "I can kill you here..or!" Zephr flew toward Tenchi. Their swords clashed again and as they did, Zephr took his left elbow and thrust it into Tenchi's throat, knocking him to the ground, stunned. Tokimi's warrior leapt on top of him and brought his sword down upon Tenchi's chest, stopping just inches away from killing him. "No!" Ayeka screamed as her own powers kicked in. Dozens of small wooden cylinders encircled her panicked form. "Princess! If one of those sticks moves an inch, I'm going to skewer your friend here!" Zephr threatened. "Now, like I said, there is another answer, Tenchi." "What? Why not kill me now." Tenchi whispered as sweat trickled down his forehead. "I don't want to kill you. But, you can still save those millions of people from a horrible fate." "How?" "By replacing them."