Sasami started crying, and Katsu ran towards her, forgetting his embarrassment. Kiyone, having woken up with a huge headache, managed to smile slightly at the sight, then turn to Washu.

"Miss Washu? May I ask what went wrong?"

"Nothing. Remember before, I told you that it would pick one Ryoko out of a billion to bring here? It chose her. That's a Ryoko that has never known us, never known anything but space pirating. Apparently she's still a pirate, even without Kagato." Washu straightened and walked over to her computer, which had a big hole in it. She sighed. "This will take some time to fix. For now, we can't send her back."

"What should we do, Washu?" Sasami asked, having regained her composure. "Won't Ryoko head right for Jurai, now?"

"She might, but we don't know that for sure. Anyway, we've got to keep track of her and get her back, as soon as possible." Washu set her hands forward, like she was typing, and her computer appeared. Typing something on it, a black hole appeared in the air, and a small, sphere shaped object fell out into Washu's waiting hand. She dropped it onto the floor.

"Activate Chaser." The sphere glowed, and tiny pricks of green light appeared around it. "DNA Search Ryoko. Map." A red dot appeared among the green ones, traveling at great speed.

"There she is." Washu pointed to the dot. It streaked across the 'map' of the galaxy, sometimes disappearing and reappearing elsewhere.

"What should we do?" Kiyone asked, then winced, holding her head. Washu noticed and walked over to her.

"Here, we have to get that scanned." Dragging Kiyone over to a metal table, she motioned for her to lie down. As Kiyone did so, Washu attached what looked like a large metal bar to the table, next to Kiyone's head.

"Stay still for a second. I'm going to check for any brain damage, ok? That Ryoko of mine can be pretty strong." The metal bar moved along the edge of the table, a line of light running down the center of it as it scanned Kiyone's head. An X-ray of her head appeared when Washu typed something to her computer.

Washu stared at it intently, and sighed. "Good. You're fine, but you're going to have one heck of a bruise. You are very lucky she wasn't out to kill, just then."

Kiyone smiled tiredly, sitting up. "I know."

Washu and Kiyone walked back to Katsu and Sasami, who were looking at the universe map. Sasami had stopped crying, and they were standing away from each other.

"Miss Washu, she's near Polaris VII." Sasami said.

"I believe that you are right, Sasami." Washu said after a second, looking at the landmarks on the 3-D map. "Then she is headed for Jurai, after all."

"It's amazing that she can travel so fast!" Kiyone commented. "It would have taken Yagami and us several days to get that far."

"Yes, that is very far. Very far." Mihoshi noticed helpfully.

"Well, she is amazing, isn't she?" Washu pointedly ignored Mihoshi. "Of course, she was built by a genius!"

"Grandma, what are we going to do?" Katsu asked in worry. "We can't get there that fast!"

"We could if Ryo-ohki was still around." Sasami said sadly.

"What happened to Ryo-Ohki, anyway?" Kiyone asked.

"She died when Ryoko did. Ryo-Ohki can't live without Ryoko." Washu said, as she shuffled through a pile of mechanisms.

"Shouldn't she be back then?"

"No. Ryoko can live without Ryo-Ohki, just not vice-versa."

"Oh."

Washu smiled and raised a small, metal object up in triumph. "This should do the trick."

Everyone stared at her.

"What is it?" Sasami asked.

"It's only a Molecular Teleporter! It transports your molecules to wherever. Watch!" She set the machine down on the ground, and pressed a blue button. It whirred slightly as lights turned on. Washu brought up her computer and typed something in. A black hole appeared above the machine, and arm-like appendages rose from the machine to hold it. Taking the flower that she had earlier used to capture Sasami, Washu chucked in into the hole. White lighting played along the edges as it closed, and there was a zipping noise while another hole opened behind them. The plant fell out, still intact, only…different.

"What did you do to it, Washu?" Kiyone said in horror. The roots were where the stem should be, the stem was laying, inside out, where the flower used to be, and the flower, which was completely off of the plant, was wilted and smelled like dirt.

"It should have worked…I don't know what went wrong! Well, now what do we do?" Washu asked confusedly.

"You don't know, Grandma?" Katsu asked.

"Umm, sure I know! The Greatest Genius in the Universe always has the answer!"

Kiyone sighed and stepped backwards, only to trip over Mihoshi. She toppled over backwards, arms flailing, and fell on top of her dozing partner.

"Huh? What? Oh, hi Kiyone! Were you tired too? I was taking a nap, cause all of this talk was sooo boring…ooh, hey, what's this? It looks like my cube; did Grandpa give you one too? Maybe he did, because we're partners and all that, but he never seemed like that kind of guy, hey, can this thing get me some fries? I really want some fries, all of this talking has made me sooo hungry, can you believe it, Kiyone? Are you hungry too? I'm getting used to being hungry, though, because we never have enough food, isn't that right, Kiyone? I wish Grandpa would send us some, its too bad, really…Why are you all looking at me funny? Its kind of scary, you should be more careful about who you stare at. I'm sensitive, you know."

"Mihoshi, hand over the cube." Washu and Kiyone said. Katsu and Sasami looked confused, wondering why the cube was so important. Katsu started wishing he had stayed to listen to Kiyone's explanation.

"Okay, why, though? Do you want fries, too?"

Kiyone snatched the cube from Mihoshi, and Washu smiled.

"I am so smart, aren't I?" Washu said. "I knew that was exactly what we needed."

"It can't do weapons, though, can it, Washu?" Kiyone asked.

"No, I'll have to stay behind and take care of those. Kiyone, you have to be there to work the machines."

"Okay, so Mihoshi, Katsu, Sasami, and I will go to her."

"We'll what?" Katsu asked in surprise.

"You are going to trap Ryoko, and stop her from reaching Jurai. Our trap will bring her to the planet Alyyia 6."

"Isn't that a little close to Jurai?" Sasami asked.

"It will have to do. Ryoko's traveling too fast to stop her any sooner. We will intercept her as she travels past the planet, and force her to the surface. When she reaches the surface, I can prevent her from leaving the planet. Kiyone and Mihoshi will set up the energy capture that will send her back to her own universe.

"Katsu and Sasami will get her to the designated point. A circle of water that shines very brightly will mark it, a circle about 10 ft in diameter. Ryoko must be inside this area for the transfer to work-unfortunately, anyone caught inside this ring at the point of transfer will be sent with her. You will have about twenty minutes after landing on Alyya 6 to get Ryoko in place, and get out of there."

"It sounds impossible! How are we supposed to find a 'circle of water' out of a whole planet?"

"It won't be hard. You'll see." Washu smiled.

"It 'shines brightly'…huh. Well, she won't want to go anywhere near that! I can see it from here!" Katsu muttered.

"Yeah, that's true." Sasami told him. They were waiting outside of the planet, dressed in the Ryo-Ohki space suits that Washu had made so long ago. Sasami had been on the verge of tears when she saw them.

"This is pretty anticlimactic! I thought we would do much less waiting."

"Trust me, you'd be a lot happier if all we were doing was waiting."

"Do you guys see her? She should be here by now!" Kiyone said.

"Where's Mihoshi?" Sasami asked.

"I don't see her anywhere." Kiyone said, spinning around.

Katsu blinked, and suddenly a yellow-eyed, cat-like woman was in front of him. She smiled sweetly and held up something, shoving it into his face.

"Looking for this?" She asked him. He heard her quite clearly, although the void of space should have sucked away the words. He cried out as he realized what was being thrust at him.

It was Mihoshi, and she didn't look well.