[Author's Note: This story is placed in the "No Need for Tenchi" manga
universe, an extension of the OAV series. It reflects individuals and
events from the first eight mangas.]
No Need for Tenchi - Minagi's Adventure
Chapter 4: Loss and Hope
Sasami drifted in velvety darkness, the only source of light a blazing
crystal floating in the distance ahead. Ayeka and the others were
flying away from the crystal and towards her. As they drew closer, she
saw that Washu was carrying Ryoko, and Tenchi wasn't with them.
Suddenly the crystal exploded into a fiery pyre, the flames reaching
out towards them.
"Look out behind you!" Sasami screamed, as loud as she could, but they
didn't seem to notice the terrible blaze about to engulf them.
Sasami stirred uneasily in her sleep, her blanket twisting around her.
Tears slid down her cheek as she gave a small whimper and huddled into
a small ball.
Washu's head snapped up from surgery. "That buildup of energy - it
couldn't be," she thought. Her voice snapped with authority. "Hinase!
Get me communications with Yukinojo and Ryo-Ohki."
[Right away, Ms. Washu.]
Washu was so distracted that she didn't even correct Hinase's slip. She
got right to the point as soon as Ayeka and Mihoshi appeared on the com
screens. "Listen up! That ship is going to explode, and it's going to
be a big one! We'll have to take shelter behind Jupiter or we'll be
incinerated."
"But what about Tenchi?" Ayeka cried out. "We can go back -"
"There's no time, Ayeka! Listen to me. Tenchi will be fine. We, on the
other hand, will not be if we're anywhere nearby when that ship goes
up. Follow the Hinase."
"How's Ryoko, Washu?" Mihoshi asked.
"It's bad. If she hadn't used up so much of her energy in the blast,
she'd be fine." Washu thought about asking Mihoshi why she was covered
in soot, but decided against it; some things were better left unknown.
"Now go!" Washu cut the com screens and took a deep breath.
"Hinase, get us around the other side of Jupiter. I want to shelter us
from the effects of the blast. And keep tracking that ship as long as
you can, I need to know if anything leaves it. Understand?"
[Yes, Ms. Washu]. The Hinase leaped forward at top speed, engines
pushed to the max.
In the operating room, Washu bowed her head. Tears ran down her face as
she whispered an apology to Ryoko. "I'm sorry, honey, but I had to
leave Tenchi behind. I know it's what he would have wanted." Washu
looked down at Ryoko's unconscious face and gently ran a hand down her
cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so very sorry." Blinking away
her tears, she focused herself and dove back into surgery with frantic
energy.
Mihoshi sat in the Yukinojo's command chair nervously twisting her
hands together. She snuffled a little bit, feeling bad about leaving
Tenchi like that to face Rashava. She spoke aloud without even
realizing it. "Please come back, Tenchi."
Yukinojo interrupted her train of thought. [Mihoshi, my sensors are
detecting movement of the unknown vessel.]
"Really, where is it going?"
[The TurtleDove has moved alongside and is pushing the other ship down
into Jupiter's gravity well. Both vessels are accelerating downwards at
a significant rate. In addition, I am reading still higher energy
levels emanating from the unknown vessel. At this rate it will have the
energy equivalent of a small nova.]
"Oh, my! Yukinojo, will we be safe on the other side of Jupiter?"
Yukinojo calculated all possible outcomes of a high-level energy burst
close to a gas giant. His voice was more somber than usual as he read
off the most likely outcome. [If the blast occurred in open space, we
could stay sheltered behind Jupiter, but the shock wave would be
sufficiently powerful to destroy all life on the Earth. With the vessel
being pushed into Jupiter, the explosion will be partially absorbed and
the shock wave will not be powerful enough to annihilate life on Earth,
but we will no longer be shielded and will not be safe from the force
of the blast.]
Mihoshi's voice was small. "Yukinojo, will Tenchi survive?"
[I'm sorry, Mihoshi, but Tenchi's abilities exceed my capacity to
compute his chances of survival. We, on the other hand, will be quite
dead if we stay where we are.]
Mihoshi bit her lip. It would take time to explain everything, and time
was something they didn't have. "Listen, everyone! The explosion is
going to take place inside Jupiter, not on the other side. We have to
move away as fast as possible!" Tears glittered in her eyes; Tenchi
would have to take care of himself.
Aboard Ryo-Ohki, Ayeka flinched as she heard Mihoshi's report. If it
was true, they were going to be in a lot of trouble very soon. She
turned to look at Jupiter and wondered what was happening on the other
side. She silently prayed for Tenchi's safety.
The last two warships of an ancient race sped downwards towards
Jupiter. One ship gleamed silvery bright, its once sleek surface
shattered in places by Ryo-Ohki's ramming attack, arcs of energy
spitting from the damaged areas. Its hull glowed from the terrible
energies straining to break free from within it. The second ship was
coal black, its own hull marred by countless modifications.
The two ships flashed from sight as the TurtleDove's straining engines
drove both of them into Jupiter's tumultuous eye. The ships separated
as the TurtleDove tried to use its momentum and Jupiter's dense
atmosphere to deflect itself back out of the gravity well. Plumes of
flame spat upwards as charged gases were rent by the energies generated
in Rashava's dying ship. Then a massive explosion reached up, flames
licking the TurtleDove's hull before swallowing it whole.
That first explosion was just the beginning of terrible changes to
Jupiter. The entire gas giant rippled as something deep within it
erupted. Imperceptibly at first, then with steadily increasing speed,
new changes began to sweep across its surface. Jupiter's eye began
swirling tighter, losing its shape and drawing itself inwards, becoming
a howling vortex that twisted and sucked the surrounding gases down
into it. Jupiter itself began to deform around the sucking maw.
Faster yet, more gases were sucked inwards, and in a few short minutes
Jupiter was a mere third of its original size. The first bursts of
light tore outwards from deep within the center of the vortex. All the
closer moons shattered, sending plumes of debris flying through space.
Jupiter was a quarter of its original size when the final explosion
began. In a fiery annunciation the gas giant burst alight, the force of
its birth exploding outwards into space. Jupiter blazed, a newborn
star, its diminutive mass fed by energies released from the crystal. A
massive shock wave tore outwards, obliterating all in its path and
bursting the last remaining moons asunder.
Mihoshi watched the events with curiosity. Pointing, she said,
"Yukinojo, what's that?"
[Mihoshi, that's a powerful energy wave! We're as good as dead. We have
exactly two minutes before we're turned into component atoms!]
"No, silly, what's that?" She pointed at a shimmering shape that had
appeared between them and the approaching wave.
Tears streamed down Ayeka's face as she bid Tenchi farewell. The tears
were making it hard to see clearly, and Jupiter seemed to be shimmering
and blurring. But then Ryo-Ohki gave a confused meow and she realized
that the shimmering was caused by something between them and the
onrushing energy wave.
Ayeka's heart pounded as she recognized Light Hawk Wings appearing one
by one, announcing the arrival of Jurai's Ship of the Beginning:
Tsunami.
Energies sufficient to destroy planets were brushed aside by Tsunami's
power. As the three ships fled, Tsunami followed, holding open a path
for them to travel in.
Ayeka watched in awe and fear as Tsunami covered their retreat. She
knew that even Tsunami couldn't weather such a force unmolested.
Moments later her fears were confirmed as a light hawk wing flared and
died. Hurtling debris and energy ravaged Tsunami's hull, blasting
gracefully curved wood into pieces and stabbing bolts of energy deeply
into her. When a second wing failed, Ayeka had to look away.
The energy wave finally caught up with the fleeing ships. Although only
a small tithe of its original power had seeped past Tsunami's defenses,
it was enough to inflict serious damage on Ryo-Ohki, Hinase, and
Yukinojo, violently tossing the ships around.
Eventually the worst of the blast was over, and Ayeka's eyes burned
as she saw the marring and scorching on Tsunami's once graceful hull.
The two destroyed light hawk wings made her look lopsided. She tried
several times before she could speak. "Tsunami, Sasami. I don't know
how you knew, but thank you. We all owe our lives to you."
She gasped as Tsunami's ghostly human form appeared floating before
Ryo-Ohki. Usually Tsunami appeared flawless in her non-corporeal form,
but now she looked battered and worn out. A dark stain was spreading
over her left forearm. She smiled wearily at Ayeka. "You're welcome,
Princess Ayeka. I - we - realized what was happening, and I came as
quickly as I could."
"Thank you, so very much."
Tsunami gave a shy smile. "Sasami would never forgive me, or herself,
if I didn't help out." Her image shimmered and began to fade. "My
apologies, but I have to go now. The force released in the explosion
was... considerable, and I need time to recover."
Ayeka watched in silence as Tsunami turned and disappeared. The First
Ship of Jurai had once again saved the royal family. She shivered as
she thought of the awesome energies Tsunami had withstood to protect
them. In fact, Ayeka couldn't remember a time in Jurai history when
Tsunami had been so badly damaged. Whispering silent thanks to Tsunami
again, she turned back to where Jupiter had once been.
Not quite a full-fledged star, Jupiter still shone brightly and showed
no signs of dimming. A large field of gas and debris was floating in a
wide sphere around the new star, fogging its outline. It was a
strangely beautiful sight. Ayeka brushed a tear from her face; the
sight of Jupiter as a star was somehow uplifting.
"Hey everyone, are you okay?"
Ayeka turned towards the com screen to see Minagi's face peering out
worriedly. She felt a sudden surge of hope. "Minagi! You're up - is
Ryoko okay? Are you okay?"
"Ryoko's doing fine, but she's unconscious right now, and will probably
be out cold for the next day or so. I'm still a little weak from the
surgery; Washu had to take quite a bit of blood and marrow from me."
Ayeka sighed in relief. She had been worried about Ryoko. Not that
she'd admit it, but it was good to hear that she would be fine. Now all
she had to worry about was Tenchi. "Minagi, do we have any information
about Lord Tenchi and those ships?"
Washu's face flashed up on another com screen. She was still in her
nurse's uniform. "I'm reviewing the data from before the explosion
right now. It looks like both ships entered Jupiter's upper atmosphere,
but only the TurtleDove started back out. Visual scans show a large
preliminary explosion and then nothing. But I don't know what kind of
debris Avashar's ship would have left if it had been destroyed."
Mihoshi's hopeful face appeared on another com screen. "Washu, does
that mean Tenchi survived?" she asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.
"I feel confident that they survived the first explosion, but the
second explosion and that energy wave was pretty powerful." She sounded
frustrated. "I just didn't have time to set up the kind of observation
we need, so we're going to have to go back and search for them."
Ayeka smiled. She would search every square kilometer of the Solar
System if need be to find Tenchi. "I'm positive he escaped. Let's
begin, shall we?"
Determination was on everyone's faces. If Tenchi was out there to be
found, they would find him.
40 minutes after the explosion
Sasami woke screaming. She sat panting with terror in the darkness,
gripping her knees and rocking back and forth. Something terrible had
happened - she knew it. Getting up, she dashed downstairs and outside
to the pier. Looking up, she scanned the night sky.
Katsuhito's voice came from behind her. "Sasami? Are you alright,
child?"
Relieved that she wasn't alone, Sasami dashed to Katsuhito and buried
herself in his arms. Terrible sobs wracked her small body. "Gr-
Grandfather, I had a bad dream. I saw everybody, but Tenchi was
missing. A huge fire was coming after them, then I was on fire, and
everyone was in danger. I'm so scared."
"Nonsense, child, I'm sure everyone is fine." Katsuhito's words
trailed off as the night sky suddenly brightened. Looking up, he
watched a brilliant flash appear where Jupiter should have been.
Stranger yet, Jupiter remained blazing in the night sky, and much,
much brighter than ever before.
Sasami looked up and saw Jupiter's bright glow. Tears trickled down her
face. "Please be okay, everyone," she whispered up to the stars.
"Please be okay."
12 hours after the explosion
Minagi felt exhausted in both body and spirit. The residual radiation
from Jupiter's birth was scrambling all the ship's sensors, so they
could only search a fraction of the space they usually could. There was
a huge amount of debris tumbling through the area; it was often hard to
tell a hunk of rock from a spaceship. That required making a visual
inspection of each object, which took time and kept everyone up.
Her mind shied away from thinking about how much more powerful the
blast must have been so much closer to Jupiter. It seemed a forlorn
hope that anything could have survived this close to the center. Minagi
closed her eyes in thought: "We barely survived, and we had Tsunami
protecting us."
It was a shame that Tsunami couldn't stay, but the damage inflicted on
her hull required rest and repair. It was amazing that she had
withstood energies of that magnitude.
She scolded herself. The explosion was destructive enough, but Tenchi
had once saved himself, Mihoshi, and Princess Ayeka from a black hole.
If he hadn't been hurt too badly in combat, he should be floating
around somewhere. They just had to find him.
Settling her nerves, she looked over at Washu, who was using her own
workstation to help scan the area from her workstation. Washu had
worked magic on Ryoko, but Minagi couldn't help feeling a little guilty
about Ryoko's condition.
"It's not your fault, if that's what you're thinking."
Minagi flinched. "How did you...? I wasn't thinking that - exactly."
Washu sighed. "First, I note that you've been fixed to the command deck
and haven't visited Ryoko yet." She counted the points off on her
fingers. "Second, during the battle I could tell how you felt about
Ryoko. And third, after the surgery you took one look at her and
scurried off as fast as you could."
"I did not scurry!"
"Right, you were still too weak to scurry. But you tried your best to."
Washu waggled a finger at Minagi accusingly.
Minagi's mouth felt dry and her palms were suddenly sweaty. She could
feel her heart hammering in her chest and a sick feeling in her
stomach.
Washu smiled and sprang off her cushion. "Let's go visit Ryoko!"
Grabbing Minagi by the hand, she dragged her protesting down the
corridors.
Minagi struggled at first but settled down when they reached Ryoko. She
couldn't get over how frail Ryoko looked just lying there. A guilty
part of her blamed herself for Ryoko's terrible wound, and she thought
about how this was the second time Ryoko had sacrificed so much to save
her. She reached out and touched Ryoko's hand gingerly, as if she was
made of the finest porcelain.
Washu looked at her seriously. "Minagi, Ryoko is technically your
mother. You may not have known until recently, but it doesn't change
the fact you have family now. Sure, Ryoko is a hopeless degenerate with
as much common sense as a cabbit, but she means well." Washu grinned
lopsidedly down at Ryoko's sleeping form and brushed a lock of hair
from her face. "Still, I'm her mother, and I do love my girl."
"Minagi, we may not be family in the ordinary sense, and Ryoko isn't
exactly the mothering figure you may be looking for. I'd like you to
think of me as your Mom and Ryoko as your older, mildly delinquent
sister. If that means we get hurt trying to help each other, it's only
because we care. Besides, you were only trying to protect me."
Minagi smiled back at Washu, feeling a bit better. Something bothered
her about the "protecting her" bit, however; she couldn't quite
remember the events leading up to Ryoko's injury. She shrugged and
figured that if she could help find Tenchi, it might pay back the debt
she owed Ryoko. She wished she could remember more about what had
happened before the fight, though.
"Thanks, Washu. I'm sorry about acting funny." Minagi got up, but
paused at the doorway. "Washu, I can't seem to remember what happened
before my fight with Rashava. Do you know why?"
"Probably just a side effect from being Ryoko's blood and marrow donor.
I wouldn't worry about it."
Minagi smiled and headed off to the command deck. Washu watched her
leave, her eyes serious. She breathed a smile sigh of relief, patted
Ryoko on the head, and got up.
It appeared that her selective memory swipe device worked perfectly, as
she knew it would. There were parts of a mother's past that no daughter
should learn about.
30 hours after the explosion
"Ayeka, I know you're hurt. You must come aboard the Hinase so I can
take a look at you." Washu's tone was one of mounting irritation.
"I'm sorry, Washu, but I'm fine. I'm not stopping my search for Tenchi
and that is final." Ayeka's voice was firm and resolute. She might
regret her words later, but she would sooner die than give up on Tenchi
again. "Besides, we need to cover as much space as quickly as
possible."
Washu looked sourly at Ayeka, muttered something about headstrong youth
these days, and then cut the connection. Ayeka sighed in relief.
Ayeka shivered and tried to deal with the growing fear that Tenchi was
dead. Her wounds ached and she felt chilled and miserable, but she knew
that she'd sooner die than give up hope. She had learned a lot from the
battle with Yume and the Bizen. She knew that life could triumph even
when all hope seemed lost. But so far their search hadn't turned up
anything and it seemed like they needed a miracle.
Washu sighed again at Ayeka's stubbornness and returned to the playback
of the explosion. She had reviewed it countless times but hadn't seen
any sign of an escaping ship, even at the last few seconds before the
explosion. The radiation buildup before Jupiter's ignition had made it
difficult to detect any kind of activity, especially of something
headed away from them. All they could do was search and then search
some more. It galled her to admit it, but what they needed was a
miracle.
Ryoko stirred and finally opened her eyes. A dull ache radiated from
her side and it seemed hard to draw a deep breath. "On the plus side,"
she noted wryly, "the ache in my side draws attention from the fact
that my body feels like it has been beaten all over." Groaning with
effort, she slowly forced herself to sit up. Her head swam for a second
before settling down.
It took several tries, but she finally clawed her way out of bed and
into the hallway. She found it much easier to lean heavily against the
wall and shuffle her way towards the bridge. "God, I wish I knew how
long I was out..."
She finally reached the Hinase's bridge. Washu and Minagi were both
intently focused on their work. Both looked exhausted; Washu hadn't
changed out of her nurse's uniform, and Minagi was still dressed in a
short surgical gown.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Ryoko was surprised at how weak her voice
sounded.
Washu and Minagi slowly turned and faced her; they both seemed
surprised to see her up. The haunted look in their faces froze her
soul.
"Wh-what happened? Where's everyone else?" Her heart started hammering
and for some reason a wave of panic was building up within her. The
dull look on their faces didn't bode well at all.
"Ryoko, everyone's fine," Minagi replied. "Except Tenchi. Rashava's
ship exploded and caused Jupiter to explode into a star." She paused,
an awkward expression on her face. "We haven't been able to find any
sign of Tenchi or Avashar." Her voice was hoarse with exhaustion and
grief.
Ryoko swayed. Suddenly she felt Washu at her side, supporting her. "You
shouldn't be up yet, Ryoko. You were badly hurt and you need time to
heal."
"Hold on, Washu. How long have you guys been searching for Tenchi? How
big an explosion are we talking about, anyway?"
"We've been searching for 36 hours straight, Ryoko. Minagi came here
right from your surgery and has been at the helm ever since. As for how
big an explosion, the dimensional energy released was powerful enough
to turn Jupiter into a new star, at least for a little while." Unable
to help herself, she began to get technical. "You see, Jupiter is about
40 times smaller than an ordinary star, so it shouldn't be able to
sustain such a reaction much longer. Only the release of high-level
dimensional energy is keeping it burning."
Ryoko didn't say anything; she just slowly slid to her knees and bowed
her head. She clenched and unclenched her fists in her lap. Deep
shuddering breaths wracked her body.
Washu knelt next to her, pulled out a small device, and pressed it
against her neck. Ryoko's ragged breathing slowed and she gently
slumped over into Washu's arms.
"She's not ready for this yet, Minagi. Can you get her back to bed?"
Washu's expression was one of total exhaustion.
Minagi nodded, unable to say anything. She felt the wave of anguish
from Ryoko when she heard the news about Tenchi, and Ryoko's sense of
loss tore at her heart. Tears sparkled in her eyes as she tenderly
brushed Ryoko's hair before picking her up. Ryoko seemed so light and
frail right now. She could feel Ryoko's heart beating rapidly.
She finally returned to the bridge and rejoined Washu. She knew that
Washu had to be at least as tired as she felt, but she would never
suggest that Washu should take a break. She knew there was still a
chance of finding Tenchi, but she also knew what they needed was a
miracle.
36 hours after the explosion
Ryoko slowly woke up, curled tightly in a fetal position. She stretched
slowly, forcing her tense muscles to relax a bit. Rolling over on her
back, she stared up at the ceiling, her yellow eyes troubled. She still
felt weak, but better than she had before.
Tenchi.
Just thinking about him made her tremble. Forcing him from her
thoughts, she focused on just getting out of bed and to the command
deck again. She gritted her teeth and dragged herself out of bed.
Although she wobbled a bit, she felt a lot steadier on her feet than
before. Walking down the corridor was easier and she only needed to
brace herself against the wall three times.
Minagi and Washu were in the same place that she had last seen them. A
large screen floated before them displaying the volume of space that
they had already searched, but it was dwarfed by the volume that was
still left to be checked.
"No Tenchi yet?" Ryoko could feel the strain in her voice, but she kept
her despair tightly locked away. In fact, she was forcing all her
emotions away, keeping an icy shield wrapped around her.
Washu turned and faced her daughter. "No, but we're still searching."
"What's taking so long?" Ryoko could feel wild anger battering away at
her, but her voice was soft and steady. She had to stay in control.
Washu looked at Ryoko oddly before continuing. "Jupiter's birth as a
star is causing havoc with our communications and our sensors. Making
things worse is the energy released by Rashava's ship and that crystal
of his. The higher dimensional energy is messing up my sensors. Half
the material and energy radiating from Jupiter is unlike anything I've
ever seen before." Frustration filled her voice; she clenched her fists
unconsciously. "Our ability to search is reduced to just barely ten
percent. Given the volume of space we have to search..." She looked
anxiously at Ryoko.
"Tsunami, what about her?" There was a edge to Ryoko's voice now.
Washu's shoulders tensed; Ryoko's emotions were too controlled, and
there was a brittleness there which was dangerous for someone in her
condition. Washu made her voice sound as soothing as possible. "Ryoko
dear, Tsunami took a considerable amount of damage protecting us from
the explosion. She would have searched if she could, but she was too
badly hurt."
"If Tsunami could barely protect us, how can we expect Tenchi to
survive? It must have been much worse so much closer to the blast."
Ryoko's voice was starting to shake. She could feel her control
slipping.
Minagi spoke up, her eyes worried. "Ryoko, Avashar's ship seems pretty
durable. I couldn't scratch it with Hinase scoring a direct hit with a
full volley. With Tenchi's help they could have survived."
"Minagi's right, Ryoko. They should be fine." Washu forced herself to
sound as breezy and confident as she didn't feel.
Ryoko didn't respond. Outwardly calm, she could feel the last shred of
her control beginning to slip away. Nothing they could say would pull
her out of her spiraling depression.
There was a brief chime and Ayeka's face appeared on screen. "Minagi,
Washu. Ryo-Ohki and I have complete our sweep and are moving to the
third section. I'll be -" She paused as she noticed Ryoko standing
there. "Ryoko."
"Ayeka." Ryoko's voice was still flat, but a hint of irritation was
there. "You look like hell."
"Well, I've been too busy looking for Tenchi to get any rest," Ayeka
huffed back. Actually, she did feel like hell, and she was sure she
looked like it too. Not that she'd admit it to Ryoko.
"You think he's alive?" No preamble, no subtlety - Ryoko was past all
of that.
"I certainly do!" Ayeka snapped back. "You think he is, don't you?"
Ryoko bristled. "Of course I do! I just thought you might try to give
up on him or something."
"Never! I've been out here searching while you've been lying around."
"Lying around!" Ryoko spluttered in indignation. "Maybe you've
forgotten that I was skewered not too long ago? "
Washu watched in amazement; she could feel the strength flowing back
into Ryoko. Biting the inside of her lip to keep from laughing, she
watched as Ayeka unknowingly goaded Ryoko away from her depression. It
was amazing how those two got along.
"Be that as it may, I'm going to be the one to rescue Lord Tenchi."
Ayeka's eyes fluttered dreamily as she imagined modestly accepting
Tenchi's tender thanks.
"Hey! Hey - stop that, I know what's running through your dirty little
mind, princess!" Ryoko fumed at the thought of Ayeka finding Tenchi
before she did. "Not if I find him first!"
"Just how did I end up wrestling for Lord Tenchi's affections with an
ex-demon?" Ayeka squeezed her eyes together in dismay. "Ryoko, you're
just too much."
Ryoko laughed when a fully irritated Ayeka cut the communications.
Turning back to face Minagi and Washu, she stopped as she noticed the
two of them staring at her. "What?"
Minagi grinned helplessly at her and just shrugged her shoulders before
turning back to her work.
"Nothing," replied Washu carefully. "I was just wondering if you could
give me a hand with this bank of sensors."
"Sure!" It had felt good to hear Ayeka so confident about Tenchi, not
that Ryoko would ever admit it. Now if she could only figure out why
Minagi and Washu were acting so funny.
Mihoshi gave a mournful wail as she sat amidst cables, circuit boards,
and whatnot. Yukinojo tore through space practically blind, devastated
by Mihoshi's attempts to tune his sensors. Now she sat sobbing amidst
the scattered remnants of her well-meant intentions.
"I'm `hic' so sorry, Yukinojo. I only wanted to help find Tenchi
faster."
[Mihoshi, please promise me you'll never, ever, try this again. My
sensor range has been cut to .01% of nominal. We'll be lucky not to
hit something at this rate. Please let me get my systems fixed.]
Mihoshi wailed again. Now flying blind due to her own efforts, she
despaired of ever finding Tenchi. Her increasingly confused and
thoughts were eventually interrupted by Yukinojo's ever louder attempts
to get her attention.
[Mihoshi, we are heading towards an unknown object at high speed.
Please brace yourself.]
"Can't we evade it?" Mihoshi looked up at Yukinojo with her wide blue
eyes.
Yukinojo sighed. [Unfortunately, Mihoshi, you have also managed to
damage my navigational controls. I'm currently attempting to reduce our
forward momentum.]
Mihoshi had just started to scream when they impacted.
Minagi flinched when Mihoshi's face came up onscreen; she must have
been half asleep on her feet. Her eyes widened as she noticed that,
behind Mihoshi, her ship looked like a disaster area: smoke and cables
everywhere.
"Uh - Minagi, Washu, Ayeka. zzzzqtt"
Mihoshi's face wobbled, her image constantly breaking up.
"I think - bzzzztt - bumped into another - skkktzzz - like the one who
helped me -" She seemed to be biting her lip and crying a bit. "Please
help!"
Minagi turned and looked at Washu and Ryoko in amazement. Washu smiled
back and said, "I think we've gotten our miracle."
Avashar groaned and pulled himself off the deck. "How the hell could a
ship run straight into the TurtleDove?" Even without any active
cloaking, the TurtleDove was stealthy enough without any power to avoid
nearly all forms of detection. Of course, with the crippling damage
from the blast and subsequent system failures, it wasn't like Avashar
didn't want to be found.
Especially with Tenchi in stasis. Their few remaining ergs were
dedicated to keeping the stasis system up and running. Avashar could
only sense the incoming ship; he watched helplessly as it headed
straight at them. Luckily, it began braking rapidly just before impact;
any faster and it would have meant bad news for the diminutive
TurtleDove. As it was, the new damage only further mangled the hull.
Avashar gritted his teeth as the impact reopened just about every wound
on his body. He hoped he wouldn't do anything too rash to his would-be
rescuer. Of course, doing anything rash would require power, and the
bulk of his energy had been stripped away, shielding the TurtleDove
from the explosion. All he could do now was keep his wounds closed,
some air and warmth around him, and a trickle of power to Tenchi's
stasis field.
Mihoshi pulled herself up from the piles of equipment all around and
simply said "Oopsie!" She was busy untangling herself from all the
cables draped around her when Washu's image snapped up on the com
screen.
"Uh, Mihoshi, are you OK?"
"I'm fine, Washu. Should I go aboard?" Mihoshi asked, eager to help.
"Better wait, I think you've helped enough for now," replied Washu, a
slight smile on her face.
"Damn it, wait a minute!" Ryoko said, brusquely crowding Washu aside.
"Mihoshi, get on board and find Tenchi right now!"
"Oh, alright Ryoko, I just have to get untangle - whoops." She crashed
to the floor.
Ryoko stared in amazement at the damage Mihoshi had wrought on her own
ship. "Never mind," she muttered. Off screen, she snarled, "How fast
can your ship move, Minagi?"
Tearing through space at top speed, the Hinase slowed only to meet up
with Ryo-Ohki and take both Ayeka and the cabbit on board. The command
deck became crowded as Ayeka, Minagi, Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki, and Washu all
gathered to get the first look at the collision.
Minagi whistled as she took in the damage to both ships. The TurtleDove
had fared worse in the collision than the larger Yukinojo; several
cloaking nodules were missing, and the entire hull was scarred and
torn. Nevertheless, it still appeared to be functional, and she
wondered just how durable that ship was. Repair drones were already
scuttling across the surface.
"I can say this, Avashar's no slouch when it comes to ship design."
Washu nodded in agreement. "I wonder how close to the explosion it was.
Of course, unlike Tsunami, it didn't have to shield anything but
itself."
"True, but you're still talking about a lot of power."
Ryoko and Ayeka interrupted their conversation. "Who cares? Let's get
Tenchi!" They stopped and looked at each other, horrified expressions
on their face as they realized they had both said the same thing.
Shaking her head in irritation, Ryoko snapped, "Fine, I'm going over
there to find him myself." But instead of disappearing, Ryoko stayed
right where she was.
"Ryoko, what's the matter?" Ayeka looked at her worriedly. "Is that
ship shielded like Rashava's?"
"No, damn it! I'm too weak, I can't teleport over!" Ryoko's voice was
anguished, and tears of frustration ran down her face. Turning quickly,
she looked imploringly at Minagi. "Minagi, please tell me you can
teleport over."
Minagi felt exhausted, but concentrated. "Yes, I should have the
strength to get over there."
"Are you sure?" Washu looked concerned. "You haven't had a chance to
rest at all."
Minagi drew a deep breath. "I can do it. I know how much Tenchi means
to all of you." She waved a hand, shooing away everyone's concerns.
"Listen, I can get over there and back faster than any other means we
have. Don't worry, I'll find him."
"Thanks, Minagi," chimed Ryoko and Ayeka in concert. Looking at each
other in horror, they pointed and cried out, "Stop that!" at the same
time. Minagi shook her head ruefully as she teleported away.
Avashar rested in the darkness. It appeared that the ship which had
been tailing him from earlier had finally arrived. Then he felt a
presence appear onboard, and he smiled.
Minagi had finally boarded the mysterious ship she had been pursuing
for so long. She smiled faintly.
She concentrated. /Washu, can you hear me?/
/Yes, loud and clear./ Washu's mental reply was sharp and clear.
/Continue forward. My sensors indicate a power source further ahead./
With Washu guiding her, Minagi moved through the TurtleDove, using her
sword for illumination. Parts of the ship were in total darkness, while
others were lit only by emergency lights. Wreckage and debris was
scattered everywhere. Twice she passed small repair units cutting and
fixing damaged bulkheads, the powerful glare of their cutters filling
the area with a painful white light. They ignored her as she passed by.
The inside of the TurtleDove was quite conventional, even austere.
Minagi wrinkled her nose; the TurtleDove might be a cleanly designed
ship, but it lacked any of the Hinase's warm touches. Then it hit her -
the TurtleDove was like a daito katana: functional, deadly, but without
any gilt or engraving.
Her head jerked as Washu's voice interrupted her thoughts. /You should
be close to the energy source, Minagi./
Looking around, she gasped as she saw Tenchi, still clad in Jurai
battle armor, floating in a glowing field of energy. Tears sparkled in
her eyes as she saw his terrible wounds. Even in the weird light, he
looked pale, so very pale.
She felt something move nearby. Spinning, she came face to face with
Avashar. Her sword blazed before him, yet he stood calmly. She could
see that he hadn't escaped unscathed from the battle; in fact he looked
as if he was on his last legs. She tensed, realizing that Tenchi's
survival was entirely his doing, and yet this man was still responsible
for so many of the deaths she witnessed earlier.
Finally, she broke the awkward silence. "I need to teleport Tenchi back
to my ship."
Avashar arched an eyebrow at her blade, still blazing before him. "Are
you planning on using that?"
Minagi's face blushed. "Right. Sorry about that." Her sword vanished,
leaving the two of them with only the pale blue light of the stasis
field as illumination. Turning back to Tenchi, she looked at the dark
stain down his left side. "What's wrong with him?"
"He was badly injured in the combat, and I lack both the ability and
equipment to repair his damage. All I could do was place his body in
stasis until I could get him repaired." Avashar moved slowly,
painfully, to where Tenchi floated. He leaned against the stasis field
and extended a hand towards her.
"This is going to be a difficult teleport," she thought grimly. "I'm
still weak from helping Ryoko."
She took his hand. Her eyes widened as a trickle of power flowed into
her with a small crackle. Startled, she looked at Avashar, who had
slumped over.
"There!"
Minagi wobbled on her feet as she brought Tenchi and Avashar onto the
Hinase. Ryoko was already at the stasis device, tears pouring down her
face as she pounded a fist against its surface. Ayeka stood next to the
device, one hand lightly touching the surface. Her weary, tear-streaked
face made her look far older than her actual age.
In the normal light of the Hinase, Tenchi's condition looked even worse
than it had on Avashar's ship. Avashar didn't look too good, either;
pale faced, he slumped against the stasis field, sweat beading his
forehead.
Washu stared at Tenchi. A small part of her shriveled up when she saw
everyone's gaze turn towards her. She could feel their unabashed belief
in her abilities. The hope in their eyes brought a lump to her throat.
Yet Tenchi's wounds were significant, far worse than Ryoko's. This
situation called for nothing less than the breeziest of attitudes.
"Well, we can't leave Lord Tenchi alone for even a few minutes!" she
said. Rubbing her hands together, she began snapping out orders. "Let's
get him trundled into the medical bay and I'll patch him up in no
time."
Avashar followed Washu, the stasis field floating alongside him. Washu
looked up at him, her eyes narrowing as she evaluated his injuries and
aura. He was moving with the careful deliberation of someone in great
pain.
He noticed her calculating stare. Leaning down, he spoke in a low
voice, "You will need my assistance to bring the stasis field down
incrementally. It should allow you to work on one injured area at a
time without exposing his entire system to shock all at once."
Washu nodded, grateful that one of her worries was taken care of.
Together they left the rest of the crew behind, slowly followed by the
stasis device.
Ayeka slowly slumped down, emotional exhaustion and physical injuries
finally overcoming her. She felt Ryoko's presence next to her, and then
nothing at all. Ryoko didn't say anything, she simply lifted Ayeka up
in her arms and carried her off to her room, muttering to herself.
Minagi smiled at Ryoko's retreating back. She could tell that Tenchi's
condition was a deep shock to her and that helping Ayeka was talking
her mind off Tenchi.
[Minagi?]
"Yes, Hinase?"
[Mihoshi is hailing us.]
A tearful Mihoshi appeared onscreen. Somehow, she had gotten even more
wrapped up in the cables and debris from the collision and only her
head and a foot were clear of the mess. She sniffled.
"Minagi?"
"Yes, Mihoshi?"
"Do you," she sniffled again, "think you can come over here and help
get me out of this?"
Minagi smiled, knowing that at least some things seemed to remain
constant in the Universe.
universe, an extension of the OAV series. It reflects individuals and
events from the first eight mangas.]
No Need for Tenchi - Minagi's Adventure
Chapter 4: Loss and Hope
Sasami drifted in velvety darkness, the only source of light a blazing
crystal floating in the distance ahead. Ayeka and the others were
flying away from the crystal and towards her. As they drew closer, she
saw that Washu was carrying Ryoko, and Tenchi wasn't with them.
Suddenly the crystal exploded into a fiery pyre, the flames reaching
out towards them.
"Look out behind you!" Sasami screamed, as loud as she could, but they
didn't seem to notice the terrible blaze about to engulf them.
Sasami stirred uneasily in her sleep, her blanket twisting around her.
Tears slid down her cheek as she gave a small whimper and huddled into
a small ball.
Washu's head snapped up from surgery. "That buildup of energy - it
couldn't be," she thought. Her voice snapped with authority. "Hinase!
Get me communications with Yukinojo and Ryo-Ohki."
[Right away, Ms. Washu.]
Washu was so distracted that she didn't even correct Hinase's slip. She
got right to the point as soon as Ayeka and Mihoshi appeared on the com
screens. "Listen up! That ship is going to explode, and it's going to
be a big one! We'll have to take shelter behind Jupiter or we'll be
incinerated."
"But what about Tenchi?" Ayeka cried out. "We can go back -"
"There's no time, Ayeka! Listen to me. Tenchi will be fine. We, on the
other hand, will not be if we're anywhere nearby when that ship goes
up. Follow the Hinase."
"How's Ryoko, Washu?" Mihoshi asked.
"It's bad. If she hadn't used up so much of her energy in the blast,
she'd be fine." Washu thought about asking Mihoshi why she was covered
in soot, but decided against it; some things were better left unknown.
"Now go!" Washu cut the com screens and took a deep breath.
"Hinase, get us around the other side of Jupiter. I want to shelter us
from the effects of the blast. And keep tracking that ship as long as
you can, I need to know if anything leaves it. Understand?"
[Yes, Ms. Washu]. The Hinase leaped forward at top speed, engines
pushed to the max.
In the operating room, Washu bowed her head. Tears ran down her face as
she whispered an apology to Ryoko. "I'm sorry, honey, but I had to
leave Tenchi behind. I know it's what he would have wanted." Washu
looked down at Ryoko's unconscious face and gently ran a hand down her
cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so very sorry." Blinking away
her tears, she focused herself and dove back into surgery with frantic
energy.
Mihoshi sat in the Yukinojo's command chair nervously twisting her
hands together. She snuffled a little bit, feeling bad about leaving
Tenchi like that to face Rashava. She spoke aloud without even
realizing it. "Please come back, Tenchi."
Yukinojo interrupted her train of thought. [Mihoshi, my sensors are
detecting movement of the unknown vessel.]
"Really, where is it going?"
[The TurtleDove has moved alongside and is pushing the other ship down
into Jupiter's gravity well. Both vessels are accelerating downwards at
a significant rate. In addition, I am reading still higher energy
levels emanating from the unknown vessel. At this rate it will have the
energy equivalent of a small nova.]
"Oh, my! Yukinojo, will we be safe on the other side of Jupiter?"
Yukinojo calculated all possible outcomes of a high-level energy burst
close to a gas giant. His voice was more somber than usual as he read
off the most likely outcome. [If the blast occurred in open space, we
could stay sheltered behind Jupiter, but the shock wave would be
sufficiently powerful to destroy all life on the Earth. With the vessel
being pushed into Jupiter, the explosion will be partially absorbed and
the shock wave will not be powerful enough to annihilate life on Earth,
but we will no longer be shielded and will not be safe from the force
of the blast.]
Mihoshi's voice was small. "Yukinojo, will Tenchi survive?"
[I'm sorry, Mihoshi, but Tenchi's abilities exceed my capacity to
compute his chances of survival. We, on the other hand, will be quite
dead if we stay where we are.]
Mihoshi bit her lip. It would take time to explain everything, and time
was something they didn't have. "Listen, everyone! The explosion is
going to take place inside Jupiter, not on the other side. We have to
move away as fast as possible!" Tears glittered in her eyes; Tenchi
would have to take care of himself.
Aboard Ryo-Ohki, Ayeka flinched as she heard Mihoshi's report. If it
was true, they were going to be in a lot of trouble very soon. She
turned to look at Jupiter and wondered what was happening on the other
side. She silently prayed for Tenchi's safety.
The last two warships of an ancient race sped downwards towards
Jupiter. One ship gleamed silvery bright, its once sleek surface
shattered in places by Ryo-Ohki's ramming attack, arcs of energy
spitting from the damaged areas. Its hull glowed from the terrible
energies straining to break free from within it. The second ship was
coal black, its own hull marred by countless modifications.
The two ships flashed from sight as the TurtleDove's straining engines
drove both of them into Jupiter's tumultuous eye. The ships separated
as the TurtleDove tried to use its momentum and Jupiter's dense
atmosphere to deflect itself back out of the gravity well. Plumes of
flame spat upwards as charged gases were rent by the energies generated
in Rashava's dying ship. Then a massive explosion reached up, flames
licking the TurtleDove's hull before swallowing it whole.
That first explosion was just the beginning of terrible changes to
Jupiter. The entire gas giant rippled as something deep within it
erupted. Imperceptibly at first, then with steadily increasing speed,
new changes began to sweep across its surface. Jupiter's eye began
swirling tighter, losing its shape and drawing itself inwards, becoming
a howling vortex that twisted and sucked the surrounding gases down
into it. Jupiter itself began to deform around the sucking maw.
Faster yet, more gases were sucked inwards, and in a few short minutes
Jupiter was a mere third of its original size. The first bursts of
light tore outwards from deep within the center of the vortex. All the
closer moons shattered, sending plumes of debris flying through space.
Jupiter was a quarter of its original size when the final explosion
began. In a fiery annunciation the gas giant burst alight, the force of
its birth exploding outwards into space. Jupiter blazed, a newborn
star, its diminutive mass fed by energies released from the crystal. A
massive shock wave tore outwards, obliterating all in its path and
bursting the last remaining moons asunder.
Mihoshi watched the events with curiosity. Pointing, she said,
"Yukinojo, what's that?"
[Mihoshi, that's a powerful energy wave! We're as good as dead. We have
exactly two minutes before we're turned into component atoms!]
"No, silly, what's that?" She pointed at a shimmering shape that had
appeared between them and the approaching wave.
Tears streamed down Ayeka's face as she bid Tenchi farewell. The tears
were making it hard to see clearly, and Jupiter seemed to be shimmering
and blurring. But then Ryo-Ohki gave a confused meow and she realized
that the shimmering was caused by something between them and the
onrushing energy wave.
Ayeka's heart pounded as she recognized Light Hawk Wings appearing one
by one, announcing the arrival of Jurai's Ship of the Beginning:
Tsunami.
Energies sufficient to destroy planets were brushed aside by Tsunami's
power. As the three ships fled, Tsunami followed, holding open a path
for them to travel in.
Ayeka watched in awe and fear as Tsunami covered their retreat. She
knew that even Tsunami couldn't weather such a force unmolested.
Moments later her fears were confirmed as a light hawk wing flared and
died. Hurtling debris and energy ravaged Tsunami's hull, blasting
gracefully curved wood into pieces and stabbing bolts of energy deeply
into her. When a second wing failed, Ayeka had to look away.
The energy wave finally caught up with the fleeing ships. Although only
a small tithe of its original power had seeped past Tsunami's defenses,
it was enough to inflict serious damage on Ryo-Ohki, Hinase, and
Yukinojo, violently tossing the ships around.
Eventually the worst of the blast was over, and Ayeka's eyes burned
as she saw the marring and scorching on Tsunami's once graceful hull.
The two destroyed light hawk wings made her look lopsided. She tried
several times before she could speak. "Tsunami, Sasami. I don't know
how you knew, but thank you. We all owe our lives to you."
She gasped as Tsunami's ghostly human form appeared floating before
Ryo-Ohki. Usually Tsunami appeared flawless in her non-corporeal form,
but now she looked battered and worn out. A dark stain was spreading
over her left forearm. She smiled wearily at Ayeka. "You're welcome,
Princess Ayeka. I - we - realized what was happening, and I came as
quickly as I could."
"Thank you, so very much."
Tsunami gave a shy smile. "Sasami would never forgive me, or herself,
if I didn't help out." Her image shimmered and began to fade. "My
apologies, but I have to go now. The force released in the explosion
was... considerable, and I need time to recover."
Ayeka watched in silence as Tsunami turned and disappeared. The First
Ship of Jurai had once again saved the royal family. She shivered as
she thought of the awesome energies Tsunami had withstood to protect
them. In fact, Ayeka couldn't remember a time in Jurai history when
Tsunami had been so badly damaged. Whispering silent thanks to Tsunami
again, she turned back to where Jupiter had once been.
Not quite a full-fledged star, Jupiter still shone brightly and showed
no signs of dimming. A large field of gas and debris was floating in a
wide sphere around the new star, fogging its outline. It was a
strangely beautiful sight. Ayeka brushed a tear from her face; the
sight of Jupiter as a star was somehow uplifting.
"Hey everyone, are you okay?"
Ayeka turned towards the com screen to see Minagi's face peering out
worriedly. She felt a sudden surge of hope. "Minagi! You're up - is
Ryoko okay? Are you okay?"
"Ryoko's doing fine, but she's unconscious right now, and will probably
be out cold for the next day or so. I'm still a little weak from the
surgery; Washu had to take quite a bit of blood and marrow from me."
Ayeka sighed in relief. She had been worried about Ryoko. Not that
she'd admit it, but it was good to hear that she would be fine. Now all
she had to worry about was Tenchi. "Minagi, do we have any information
about Lord Tenchi and those ships?"
Washu's face flashed up on another com screen. She was still in her
nurse's uniform. "I'm reviewing the data from before the explosion
right now. It looks like both ships entered Jupiter's upper atmosphere,
but only the TurtleDove started back out. Visual scans show a large
preliminary explosion and then nothing. But I don't know what kind of
debris Avashar's ship would have left if it had been destroyed."
Mihoshi's hopeful face appeared on another com screen. "Washu, does
that mean Tenchi survived?" she asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.
"I feel confident that they survived the first explosion, but the
second explosion and that energy wave was pretty powerful." She sounded
frustrated. "I just didn't have time to set up the kind of observation
we need, so we're going to have to go back and search for them."
Ayeka smiled. She would search every square kilometer of the Solar
System if need be to find Tenchi. "I'm positive he escaped. Let's
begin, shall we?"
Determination was on everyone's faces. If Tenchi was out there to be
found, they would find him.
40 minutes after the explosion
Sasami woke screaming. She sat panting with terror in the darkness,
gripping her knees and rocking back and forth. Something terrible had
happened - she knew it. Getting up, she dashed downstairs and outside
to the pier. Looking up, she scanned the night sky.
Katsuhito's voice came from behind her. "Sasami? Are you alright,
child?"
Relieved that she wasn't alone, Sasami dashed to Katsuhito and buried
herself in his arms. Terrible sobs wracked her small body. "Gr-
Grandfather, I had a bad dream. I saw everybody, but Tenchi was
missing. A huge fire was coming after them, then I was on fire, and
everyone was in danger. I'm so scared."
"Nonsense, child, I'm sure everyone is fine." Katsuhito's words
trailed off as the night sky suddenly brightened. Looking up, he
watched a brilliant flash appear where Jupiter should have been.
Stranger yet, Jupiter remained blazing in the night sky, and much,
much brighter than ever before.
Sasami looked up and saw Jupiter's bright glow. Tears trickled down her
face. "Please be okay, everyone," she whispered up to the stars.
"Please be okay."
12 hours after the explosion
Minagi felt exhausted in both body and spirit. The residual radiation
from Jupiter's birth was scrambling all the ship's sensors, so they
could only search a fraction of the space they usually could. There was
a huge amount of debris tumbling through the area; it was often hard to
tell a hunk of rock from a spaceship. That required making a visual
inspection of each object, which took time and kept everyone up.
Her mind shied away from thinking about how much more powerful the
blast must have been so much closer to Jupiter. It seemed a forlorn
hope that anything could have survived this close to the center. Minagi
closed her eyes in thought: "We barely survived, and we had Tsunami
protecting us."
It was a shame that Tsunami couldn't stay, but the damage inflicted on
her hull required rest and repair. It was amazing that she had
withstood energies of that magnitude.
She scolded herself. The explosion was destructive enough, but Tenchi
had once saved himself, Mihoshi, and Princess Ayeka from a black hole.
If he hadn't been hurt too badly in combat, he should be floating
around somewhere. They just had to find him.
Settling her nerves, she looked over at Washu, who was using her own
workstation to help scan the area from her workstation. Washu had
worked magic on Ryoko, but Minagi couldn't help feeling a little guilty
about Ryoko's condition.
"It's not your fault, if that's what you're thinking."
Minagi flinched. "How did you...? I wasn't thinking that - exactly."
Washu sighed. "First, I note that you've been fixed to the command deck
and haven't visited Ryoko yet." She counted the points off on her
fingers. "Second, during the battle I could tell how you felt about
Ryoko. And third, after the surgery you took one look at her and
scurried off as fast as you could."
"I did not scurry!"
"Right, you were still too weak to scurry. But you tried your best to."
Washu waggled a finger at Minagi accusingly.
Minagi's mouth felt dry and her palms were suddenly sweaty. She could
feel her heart hammering in her chest and a sick feeling in her
stomach.
Washu smiled and sprang off her cushion. "Let's go visit Ryoko!"
Grabbing Minagi by the hand, she dragged her protesting down the
corridors.
Minagi struggled at first but settled down when they reached Ryoko. She
couldn't get over how frail Ryoko looked just lying there. A guilty
part of her blamed herself for Ryoko's terrible wound, and she thought
about how this was the second time Ryoko had sacrificed so much to save
her. She reached out and touched Ryoko's hand gingerly, as if she was
made of the finest porcelain.
Washu looked at her seriously. "Minagi, Ryoko is technically your
mother. You may not have known until recently, but it doesn't change
the fact you have family now. Sure, Ryoko is a hopeless degenerate with
as much common sense as a cabbit, but she means well." Washu grinned
lopsidedly down at Ryoko's sleeping form and brushed a lock of hair
from her face. "Still, I'm her mother, and I do love my girl."
"Minagi, we may not be family in the ordinary sense, and Ryoko isn't
exactly the mothering figure you may be looking for. I'd like you to
think of me as your Mom and Ryoko as your older, mildly delinquent
sister. If that means we get hurt trying to help each other, it's only
because we care. Besides, you were only trying to protect me."
Minagi smiled back at Washu, feeling a bit better. Something bothered
her about the "protecting her" bit, however; she couldn't quite
remember the events leading up to Ryoko's injury. She shrugged and
figured that if she could help find Tenchi, it might pay back the debt
she owed Ryoko. She wished she could remember more about what had
happened before the fight, though.
"Thanks, Washu. I'm sorry about acting funny." Minagi got up, but
paused at the doorway. "Washu, I can't seem to remember what happened
before my fight with Rashava. Do you know why?"
"Probably just a side effect from being Ryoko's blood and marrow donor.
I wouldn't worry about it."
Minagi smiled and headed off to the command deck. Washu watched her
leave, her eyes serious. She breathed a smile sigh of relief, patted
Ryoko on the head, and got up.
It appeared that her selective memory swipe device worked perfectly, as
she knew it would. There were parts of a mother's past that no daughter
should learn about.
30 hours after the explosion
"Ayeka, I know you're hurt. You must come aboard the Hinase so I can
take a look at you." Washu's tone was one of mounting irritation.
"I'm sorry, Washu, but I'm fine. I'm not stopping my search for Tenchi
and that is final." Ayeka's voice was firm and resolute. She might
regret her words later, but she would sooner die than give up on Tenchi
again. "Besides, we need to cover as much space as quickly as
possible."
Washu looked sourly at Ayeka, muttered something about headstrong youth
these days, and then cut the connection. Ayeka sighed in relief.
Ayeka shivered and tried to deal with the growing fear that Tenchi was
dead. Her wounds ached and she felt chilled and miserable, but she knew
that she'd sooner die than give up hope. She had learned a lot from the
battle with Yume and the Bizen. She knew that life could triumph even
when all hope seemed lost. But so far their search hadn't turned up
anything and it seemed like they needed a miracle.
Washu sighed again at Ayeka's stubbornness and returned to the playback
of the explosion. She had reviewed it countless times but hadn't seen
any sign of an escaping ship, even at the last few seconds before the
explosion. The radiation buildup before Jupiter's ignition had made it
difficult to detect any kind of activity, especially of something
headed away from them. All they could do was search and then search
some more. It galled her to admit it, but what they needed was a
miracle.
Ryoko stirred and finally opened her eyes. A dull ache radiated from
her side and it seemed hard to draw a deep breath. "On the plus side,"
she noted wryly, "the ache in my side draws attention from the fact
that my body feels like it has been beaten all over." Groaning with
effort, she slowly forced herself to sit up. Her head swam for a second
before settling down.
It took several tries, but she finally clawed her way out of bed and
into the hallway. She found it much easier to lean heavily against the
wall and shuffle her way towards the bridge. "God, I wish I knew how
long I was out..."
She finally reached the Hinase's bridge. Washu and Minagi were both
intently focused on their work. Both looked exhausted; Washu hadn't
changed out of her nurse's uniform, and Minagi was still dressed in a
short surgical gown.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Ryoko was surprised at how weak her voice
sounded.
Washu and Minagi slowly turned and faced her; they both seemed
surprised to see her up. The haunted look in their faces froze her
soul.
"Wh-what happened? Where's everyone else?" Her heart started hammering
and for some reason a wave of panic was building up within her. The
dull look on their faces didn't bode well at all.
"Ryoko, everyone's fine," Minagi replied. "Except Tenchi. Rashava's
ship exploded and caused Jupiter to explode into a star." She paused,
an awkward expression on her face. "We haven't been able to find any
sign of Tenchi or Avashar." Her voice was hoarse with exhaustion and
grief.
Ryoko swayed. Suddenly she felt Washu at her side, supporting her. "You
shouldn't be up yet, Ryoko. You were badly hurt and you need time to
heal."
"Hold on, Washu. How long have you guys been searching for Tenchi? How
big an explosion are we talking about, anyway?"
"We've been searching for 36 hours straight, Ryoko. Minagi came here
right from your surgery and has been at the helm ever since. As for how
big an explosion, the dimensional energy released was powerful enough
to turn Jupiter into a new star, at least for a little while." Unable
to help herself, she began to get technical. "You see, Jupiter is about
40 times smaller than an ordinary star, so it shouldn't be able to
sustain such a reaction much longer. Only the release of high-level
dimensional energy is keeping it burning."
Ryoko didn't say anything; she just slowly slid to her knees and bowed
her head. She clenched and unclenched her fists in her lap. Deep
shuddering breaths wracked her body.
Washu knelt next to her, pulled out a small device, and pressed it
against her neck. Ryoko's ragged breathing slowed and she gently
slumped over into Washu's arms.
"She's not ready for this yet, Minagi. Can you get her back to bed?"
Washu's expression was one of total exhaustion.
Minagi nodded, unable to say anything. She felt the wave of anguish
from Ryoko when she heard the news about Tenchi, and Ryoko's sense of
loss tore at her heart. Tears sparkled in her eyes as she tenderly
brushed Ryoko's hair before picking her up. Ryoko seemed so light and
frail right now. She could feel Ryoko's heart beating rapidly.
She finally returned to the bridge and rejoined Washu. She knew that
Washu had to be at least as tired as she felt, but she would never
suggest that Washu should take a break. She knew there was still a
chance of finding Tenchi, but she also knew what they needed was a
miracle.
36 hours after the explosion
Ryoko slowly woke up, curled tightly in a fetal position. She stretched
slowly, forcing her tense muscles to relax a bit. Rolling over on her
back, she stared up at the ceiling, her yellow eyes troubled. She still
felt weak, but better than she had before.
Tenchi.
Just thinking about him made her tremble. Forcing him from her
thoughts, she focused on just getting out of bed and to the command
deck again. She gritted her teeth and dragged herself out of bed.
Although she wobbled a bit, she felt a lot steadier on her feet than
before. Walking down the corridor was easier and she only needed to
brace herself against the wall three times.
Minagi and Washu were in the same place that she had last seen them. A
large screen floated before them displaying the volume of space that
they had already searched, but it was dwarfed by the volume that was
still left to be checked.
"No Tenchi yet?" Ryoko could feel the strain in her voice, but she kept
her despair tightly locked away. In fact, she was forcing all her
emotions away, keeping an icy shield wrapped around her.
Washu turned and faced her daughter. "No, but we're still searching."
"What's taking so long?" Ryoko could feel wild anger battering away at
her, but her voice was soft and steady. She had to stay in control.
Washu looked at Ryoko oddly before continuing. "Jupiter's birth as a
star is causing havoc with our communications and our sensors. Making
things worse is the energy released by Rashava's ship and that crystal
of his. The higher dimensional energy is messing up my sensors. Half
the material and energy radiating from Jupiter is unlike anything I've
ever seen before." Frustration filled her voice; she clenched her fists
unconsciously. "Our ability to search is reduced to just barely ten
percent. Given the volume of space we have to search..." She looked
anxiously at Ryoko.
"Tsunami, what about her?" There was a edge to Ryoko's voice now.
Washu's shoulders tensed; Ryoko's emotions were too controlled, and
there was a brittleness there which was dangerous for someone in her
condition. Washu made her voice sound as soothing as possible. "Ryoko
dear, Tsunami took a considerable amount of damage protecting us from
the explosion. She would have searched if she could, but she was too
badly hurt."
"If Tsunami could barely protect us, how can we expect Tenchi to
survive? It must have been much worse so much closer to the blast."
Ryoko's voice was starting to shake. She could feel her control
slipping.
Minagi spoke up, her eyes worried. "Ryoko, Avashar's ship seems pretty
durable. I couldn't scratch it with Hinase scoring a direct hit with a
full volley. With Tenchi's help they could have survived."
"Minagi's right, Ryoko. They should be fine." Washu forced herself to
sound as breezy and confident as she didn't feel.
Ryoko didn't respond. Outwardly calm, she could feel the last shred of
her control beginning to slip away. Nothing they could say would pull
her out of her spiraling depression.
There was a brief chime and Ayeka's face appeared on screen. "Minagi,
Washu. Ryo-Ohki and I have complete our sweep and are moving to the
third section. I'll be -" She paused as she noticed Ryoko standing
there. "Ryoko."
"Ayeka." Ryoko's voice was still flat, but a hint of irritation was
there. "You look like hell."
"Well, I've been too busy looking for Tenchi to get any rest," Ayeka
huffed back. Actually, she did feel like hell, and she was sure she
looked like it too. Not that she'd admit it to Ryoko.
"You think he's alive?" No preamble, no subtlety - Ryoko was past all
of that.
"I certainly do!" Ayeka snapped back. "You think he is, don't you?"
Ryoko bristled. "Of course I do! I just thought you might try to give
up on him or something."
"Never! I've been out here searching while you've been lying around."
"Lying around!" Ryoko spluttered in indignation. "Maybe you've
forgotten that I was skewered not too long ago? "
Washu watched in amazement; she could feel the strength flowing back
into Ryoko. Biting the inside of her lip to keep from laughing, she
watched as Ayeka unknowingly goaded Ryoko away from her depression. It
was amazing how those two got along.
"Be that as it may, I'm going to be the one to rescue Lord Tenchi."
Ayeka's eyes fluttered dreamily as she imagined modestly accepting
Tenchi's tender thanks.
"Hey! Hey - stop that, I know what's running through your dirty little
mind, princess!" Ryoko fumed at the thought of Ayeka finding Tenchi
before she did. "Not if I find him first!"
"Just how did I end up wrestling for Lord Tenchi's affections with an
ex-demon?" Ayeka squeezed her eyes together in dismay. "Ryoko, you're
just too much."
Ryoko laughed when a fully irritated Ayeka cut the communications.
Turning back to face Minagi and Washu, she stopped as she noticed the
two of them staring at her. "What?"
Minagi grinned helplessly at her and just shrugged her shoulders before
turning back to her work.
"Nothing," replied Washu carefully. "I was just wondering if you could
give me a hand with this bank of sensors."
"Sure!" It had felt good to hear Ayeka so confident about Tenchi, not
that Ryoko would ever admit it. Now if she could only figure out why
Minagi and Washu were acting so funny.
Mihoshi gave a mournful wail as she sat amidst cables, circuit boards,
and whatnot. Yukinojo tore through space practically blind, devastated
by Mihoshi's attempts to tune his sensors. Now she sat sobbing amidst
the scattered remnants of her well-meant intentions.
"I'm `hic' so sorry, Yukinojo. I only wanted to help find Tenchi
faster."
[Mihoshi, please promise me you'll never, ever, try this again. My
sensor range has been cut to .01% of nominal. We'll be lucky not to
hit something at this rate. Please let me get my systems fixed.]
Mihoshi wailed again. Now flying blind due to her own efforts, she
despaired of ever finding Tenchi. Her increasingly confused and
thoughts were eventually interrupted by Yukinojo's ever louder attempts
to get her attention.
[Mihoshi, we are heading towards an unknown object at high speed.
Please brace yourself.]
"Can't we evade it?" Mihoshi looked up at Yukinojo with her wide blue
eyes.
Yukinojo sighed. [Unfortunately, Mihoshi, you have also managed to
damage my navigational controls. I'm currently attempting to reduce our
forward momentum.]
Mihoshi had just started to scream when they impacted.
Minagi flinched when Mihoshi's face came up onscreen; she must have
been half asleep on her feet. Her eyes widened as she noticed that,
behind Mihoshi, her ship looked like a disaster area: smoke and cables
everywhere.
"Uh - Minagi, Washu, Ayeka. zzzzqtt"
Mihoshi's face wobbled, her image constantly breaking up.
"I think - bzzzztt - bumped into another - skkktzzz - like the one who
helped me -" She seemed to be biting her lip and crying a bit. "Please
help!"
Minagi turned and looked at Washu and Ryoko in amazement. Washu smiled
back and said, "I think we've gotten our miracle."
Avashar groaned and pulled himself off the deck. "How the hell could a
ship run straight into the TurtleDove?" Even without any active
cloaking, the TurtleDove was stealthy enough without any power to avoid
nearly all forms of detection. Of course, with the crippling damage
from the blast and subsequent system failures, it wasn't like Avashar
didn't want to be found.
Especially with Tenchi in stasis. Their few remaining ergs were
dedicated to keeping the stasis system up and running. Avashar could
only sense the incoming ship; he watched helplessly as it headed
straight at them. Luckily, it began braking rapidly just before impact;
any faster and it would have meant bad news for the diminutive
TurtleDove. As it was, the new damage only further mangled the hull.
Avashar gritted his teeth as the impact reopened just about every wound
on his body. He hoped he wouldn't do anything too rash to his would-be
rescuer. Of course, doing anything rash would require power, and the
bulk of his energy had been stripped away, shielding the TurtleDove
from the explosion. All he could do now was keep his wounds closed,
some air and warmth around him, and a trickle of power to Tenchi's
stasis field.
Mihoshi pulled herself up from the piles of equipment all around and
simply said "Oopsie!" She was busy untangling herself from all the
cables draped around her when Washu's image snapped up on the com
screen.
"Uh, Mihoshi, are you OK?"
"I'm fine, Washu. Should I go aboard?" Mihoshi asked, eager to help.
"Better wait, I think you've helped enough for now," replied Washu, a
slight smile on her face.
"Damn it, wait a minute!" Ryoko said, brusquely crowding Washu aside.
"Mihoshi, get on board and find Tenchi right now!"
"Oh, alright Ryoko, I just have to get untangle - whoops." She crashed
to the floor.
Ryoko stared in amazement at the damage Mihoshi had wrought on her own
ship. "Never mind," she muttered. Off screen, she snarled, "How fast
can your ship move, Minagi?"
Tearing through space at top speed, the Hinase slowed only to meet up
with Ryo-Ohki and take both Ayeka and the cabbit on board. The command
deck became crowded as Ayeka, Minagi, Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki, and Washu all
gathered to get the first look at the collision.
Minagi whistled as she took in the damage to both ships. The TurtleDove
had fared worse in the collision than the larger Yukinojo; several
cloaking nodules were missing, and the entire hull was scarred and
torn. Nevertheless, it still appeared to be functional, and she
wondered just how durable that ship was. Repair drones were already
scuttling across the surface.
"I can say this, Avashar's no slouch when it comes to ship design."
Washu nodded in agreement. "I wonder how close to the explosion it was.
Of course, unlike Tsunami, it didn't have to shield anything but
itself."
"True, but you're still talking about a lot of power."
Ryoko and Ayeka interrupted their conversation. "Who cares? Let's get
Tenchi!" They stopped and looked at each other, horrified expressions
on their face as they realized they had both said the same thing.
Shaking her head in irritation, Ryoko snapped, "Fine, I'm going over
there to find him myself." But instead of disappearing, Ryoko stayed
right where she was.
"Ryoko, what's the matter?" Ayeka looked at her worriedly. "Is that
ship shielded like Rashava's?"
"No, damn it! I'm too weak, I can't teleport over!" Ryoko's voice was
anguished, and tears of frustration ran down her face. Turning quickly,
she looked imploringly at Minagi. "Minagi, please tell me you can
teleport over."
Minagi felt exhausted, but concentrated. "Yes, I should have the
strength to get over there."
"Are you sure?" Washu looked concerned. "You haven't had a chance to
rest at all."
Minagi drew a deep breath. "I can do it. I know how much Tenchi means
to all of you." She waved a hand, shooing away everyone's concerns.
"Listen, I can get over there and back faster than any other means we
have. Don't worry, I'll find him."
"Thanks, Minagi," chimed Ryoko and Ayeka in concert. Looking at each
other in horror, they pointed and cried out, "Stop that!" at the same
time. Minagi shook her head ruefully as she teleported away.
Avashar rested in the darkness. It appeared that the ship which had
been tailing him from earlier had finally arrived. Then he felt a
presence appear onboard, and he smiled.
Minagi had finally boarded the mysterious ship she had been pursuing
for so long. She smiled faintly.
She concentrated. /Washu, can you hear me?/
/Yes, loud and clear./ Washu's mental reply was sharp and clear.
/Continue forward. My sensors indicate a power source further ahead./
With Washu guiding her, Minagi moved through the TurtleDove, using her
sword for illumination. Parts of the ship were in total darkness, while
others were lit only by emergency lights. Wreckage and debris was
scattered everywhere. Twice she passed small repair units cutting and
fixing damaged bulkheads, the powerful glare of their cutters filling
the area with a painful white light. They ignored her as she passed by.
The inside of the TurtleDove was quite conventional, even austere.
Minagi wrinkled her nose; the TurtleDove might be a cleanly designed
ship, but it lacked any of the Hinase's warm touches. Then it hit her -
the TurtleDove was like a daito katana: functional, deadly, but without
any gilt or engraving.
Her head jerked as Washu's voice interrupted her thoughts. /You should
be close to the energy source, Minagi./
Looking around, she gasped as she saw Tenchi, still clad in Jurai
battle armor, floating in a glowing field of energy. Tears sparkled in
her eyes as she saw his terrible wounds. Even in the weird light, he
looked pale, so very pale.
She felt something move nearby. Spinning, she came face to face with
Avashar. Her sword blazed before him, yet he stood calmly. She could
see that he hadn't escaped unscathed from the battle; in fact he looked
as if he was on his last legs. She tensed, realizing that Tenchi's
survival was entirely his doing, and yet this man was still responsible
for so many of the deaths she witnessed earlier.
Finally, she broke the awkward silence. "I need to teleport Tenchi back
to my ship."
Avashar arched an eyebrow at her blade, still blazing before him. "Are
you planning on using that?"
Minagi's face blushed. "Right. Sorry about that." Her sword vanished,
leaving the two of them with only the pale blue light of the stasis
field as illumination. Turning back to Tenchi, she looked at the dark
stain down his left side. "What's wrong with him?"
"He was badly injured in the combat, and I lack both the ability and
equipment to repair his damage. All I could do was place his body in
stasis until I could get him repaired." Avashar moved slowly,
painfully, to where Tenchi floated. He leaned against the stasis field
and extended a hand towards her.
"This is going to be a difficult teleport," she thought grimly. "I'm
still weak from helping Ryoko."
She took his hand. Her eyes widened as a trickle of power flowed into
her with a small crackle. Startled, she looked at Avashar, who had
slumped over.
"There!"
Minagi wobbled on her feet as she brought Tenchi and Avashar onto the
Hinase. Ryoko was already at the stasis device, tears pouring down her
face as she pounded a fist against its surface. Ayeka stood next to the
device, one hand lightly touching the surface. Her weary, tear-streaked
face made her look far older than her actual age.
In the normal light of the Hinase, Tenchi's condition looked even worse
than it had on Avashar's ship. Avashar didn't look too good, either;
pale faced, he slumped against the stasis field, sweat beading his
forehead.
Washu stared at Tenchi. A small part of her shriveled up when she saw
everyone's gaze turn towards her. She could feel their unabashed belief
in her abilities. The hope in their eyes brought a lump to her throat.
Yet Tenchi's wounds were significant, far worse than Ryoko's. This
situation called for nothing less than the breeziest of attitudes.
"Well, we can't leave Lord Tenchi alone for even a few minutes!" she
said. Rubbing her hands together, she began snapping out orders. "Let's
get him trundled into the medical bay and I'll patch him up in no
time."
Avashar followed Washu, the stasis field floating alongside him. Washu
looked up at him, her eyes narrowing as she evaluated his injuries and
aura. He was moving with the careful deliberation of someone in great
pain.
He noticed her calculating stare. Leaning down, he spoke in a low
voice, "You will need my assistance to bring the stasis field down
incrementally. It should allow you to work on one injured area at a
time without exposing his entire system to shock all at once."
Washu nodded, grateful that one of her worries was taken care of.
Together they left the rest of the crew behind, slowly followed by the
stasis device.
Ayeka slowly slumped down, emotional exhaustion and physical injuries
finally overcoming her. She felt Ryoko's presence next to her, and then
nothing at all. Ryoko didn't say anything, she simply lifted Ayeka up
in her arms and carried her off to her room, muttering to herself.
Minagi smiled at Ryoko's retreating back. She could tell that Tenchi's
condition was a deep shock to her and that helping Ayeka was talking
her mind off Tenchi.
[Minagi?]
"Yes, Hinase?"
[Mihoshi is hailing us.]
A tearful Mihoshi appeared onscreen. Somehow, she had gotten even more
wrapped up in the cables and debris from the collision and only her
head and a foot were clear of the mess. She sniffled.
"Minagi?"
"Yes, Mihoshi?"
"Do you," she sniffled again, "think you can come over here and help
get me out of this?"
Minagi smiled, knowing that at least some things seemed to remain
constant in the Universe.