Chapter Two

"Now, I bet you're wondering what all this is about," Master Higurashi said as he served his guests tea.

"Yeah kinda," Yugi said.

"Well, why don't we ask our two little friends here?" the old man said sitting down with them.

"I really don't know anything except that we escaped from a ship that was being attacked." Sang-3PO said.

"I was given a message by the Princess. She asked me to play it for you." Moku-D2 said.

"You mean that thing stuck in your Rom?" Yugi asked. Moku-D2 blinked a few lights, and suddenly the miniature image of a girl in white with black hair appeared on the table. "Wow! She's cute," Yugi said.

"Hmmm," the Knight said as the message played.

"Master Higurashi," said the girl, "I am Princess Kagome of the planet Tokyo. You helped my father during the Clone Riots, now I need your help. I need you to get these plans that I've uploaded into this D2 unit back to planet Tokyo. You're the only hope for the resistance now." The Image turned, looking over her shoulder, and then faded.

"Hmmmm," Master Higurashi said. "Haha! Finally! A mission after all these years!"

"I still know what's going on," Yugi said.

"Well you see this all has to do with my old apprentice, Darth Kaiba." the ld man said. "I tried to trian in the ways of the a Jedi Knight. But they didn't take! He turned to gaming instead and now he goes around intimidating people with his duel disk and his fancy monster cards. Besides, he was a jerk anyway."

"Then we have to complete this mission." Yugi said, standing.

"Oh that's so brave!" Rebecca said. "I wanna come with you!"

"Now hold it," Master Higurashi said, "who said anything about you two going? This is my last chance for glory- I mean I don't want you kids to get hurt."

"But I want to help this Princess, whoever she is," Yugi said.

"And I wanna get back at the Empire for killing my Jawees and kidnapping my grandpa." Rebecca said.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sang-3Po asked. "Like, a ship?" they all fell down in exasperation.

"Very well then, we'll get a fancy ship." Higurashi said.

"I don't think we can afford a fancy one," Yugi.

"How much have we got?" the old man asked.

"We'll probably have to spend everything in your retirement fund." This made Master Higurashi burst into tears.

Transition

As the group traveled, smashed together in the hover car, they entered the city of Mos Kyoto. The sandy streets were teaming with humanoid and alien life. Unexpectedly, as they rounded a corner, they came upon a road block of storm troopers.

"The jig is up!" Moku-D2 cried.

"Shhhh," the Master said, "I'll use an old Jedi mind trick on them. Leave everything to me." He pulled up to the troopers, and as soon as the two looked at the droids, the old man asked, "Excuse me, but can you tell me where I can find the shadiest, most seedy bar in town?"

"Oh sure," said the troopers. "That would be, uh, the canteena on 6th street." said one.

"No, you want the one on 4th street," said the other, "It's worse than that. You just take-"

"Hey, 6th street is worse than that," argued the first.

"No it isn't," said the second.

"That's ok," said Master Higurashi, "We'll pick one on our own."

"Alright, move along," said the second trooper, and the Jedi drove away.

"That's your 'mind trick'?" Yugi asked, "I thought you were gonna at least wave your hands and put some magical haze over their eyes."

"What do you think I am? A magician? And have you ever been able to concentrate when someone's asking for directions?" They continued on to a bar even worse than either 4th or 6th street. They went to infamous 12th street canteena.

As the two young kids and the old Knight entered, leaving the droids in the car, they drew the attention of every one of the bar's patrons. They sat in a corner booth, and waited while Master Higurashi asked around.

Soon he came back accompanied by a small furry creature with a blue ribbon in his hair.

"Shippo here is first mate of a ship that might suit us," the old man said.

"What is it, a rat?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm a fox, heathen!" Shippo said, "I come from the planet Kitsune! On my home planet, I'm very important!"

"Then what are you doing out here?" Rebecca asked.

"Got in with a bad crowd," Shippo said. "Any way, our ship the Millennium Puzzle is all fueled up and ready to go. My Captain and I just need some assurance that we'll be paid."

"Uh sure thing." Yugi said, "Just how much are we talking about?"

"100,000.000 Yen." Shippo said. "Standard shipping price for any illegal cargo."

"No cargo, only passengers." Master Higurashi informed him.

"Good then that should make it easier." Said a voice from behind them. They turned around and came face to face with a dog eared young man with white flowing hair dressed in a red vest, imperial navy pants and black boots.

"I'm Inu-yasha, captain of the Millennium Puzzle. We're not picky, but we do like to know what it is that we're getting into. Let's just say we'd like to avoid Imperial entanglements."

"Ah, I remember, you were kicked out of the Imperial Navy weren't you?" Master Higurashi.

"I got no love for the Empire, if that's what you're meaning," Inu-yasha said, pulling up a chair. "I can get ya out of here without any trouble, but it'll cost extra."

"We can give 40,000 yen now, and 60,000 when we get there," Higurashi said.

"Deal," Inu-yasha said, shaking the old man's hand. "The ship's hanger bay 27. I'll meet you there."

Transition

As Inu-yasha and Shippo returned to the hanger to prep their ship, they were met by an old 'friend'.

"Come out of there you ungrateful dog!" shouted Jaken the Hut. The little green kingpin was surrounded by body guards, including one infamous bounty hunter, Sesshomaru Fet. "I paid you good money, now you're gonna work it off!"

"Hey, banging up my ship!" Inu-yasha barked.

"I spent hours getting rid of those dents," Shippo added.

"Oh, there, you are," said Jaken turning around, his Staff of Two Skulls in his hand. "Now, Inu-yasha, are you going to repay me for the spices you dropped in the middle of space? And don't give that line about being boarded by Imperial Forces. Mr. Fet tells me that you were carrying live cargo."

"So I helped out a couple of fox cubs that were about to be sold into slavery, I'm just an old softy at heart." Inu-yasha said.

"I want either my money or your ship you mutt!" Jaken said, jumping up and down, waving his skinny little arms. "Now which is it gonna be?"

"The money," Inu-yasha said. "I got most of it right now," he said taking out the yen. "I'll have the rest of it for you in two days. You see I've got this nice, easy, little pleasure cruse chartered and once I get back, you'll have all your money."

Jaken grabbed it, counted it, and said. "You're 60 short."

"That's why I said I'd have the rest in a couple of days, were your ears clogged?" Inu-yasha said.

"Fine, 60000 in two days, or your head's going on the staff next." Jaken said, leading his entourage out. As Sesshomaru passed, he grinned.

"He's just waitn for a chance to come after you, Inu-yasha," Shippo said when they were gone.

"Well he can keep lookin," Inu-yasha said as he climbed into the cockpit.

Transition

Darth Kaiba returned to the bridge of the Death Sphere, his prisoner following behind, her hands cuffed and a trooper poking her in the back with a blaster.

"I hope you're happy with yourself," Kagome said.

"Oh, I'm very happy," Kaiba answered. "I have our first victim of the ultimate weapon of this station, and I'd like you to have a front row seat at its christening." he said as the looked at the large view screen.

Kagome gasped, "Is that-?"

"It is," he said, "Planet Tokyo. I plan to obliterate it, unless tell where to find your rebel friends."

Kagome looked down, then looked back at her home planet, where everyone she knew and love most were. "Musashi," she said. "They're on Musashi."

"That wasn't very hard was it?" Darth Kaiba asked. "Gunner, you may fire when ready."

"WHAT?" Princess Kagome cried.

"You're far too trusting," he said. "Did you think I would actually spare your planet just because you told me the name of some remote rock out in the middle of space? I'll deal with the Rebellion later."

The Princess watched horrified as the huge laser cannon fired at her home planet, and utterly destroyed it.

Transition

Meanwhile, on the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi was fiddling with his light saber as Rebecca and Sang-3PO played a game with Shippo. Master Higurahsi closed his eyes, and grunted where he sat.

"Master?" Yugi asked, "What is it?"

"I felt a disturbance of some kind," he said contemplating. "Eh, maybe it's nothing."

Yugi sat back down and waited for Inu-yasha to finish prepping the ship for launch. Outside the hanger though the visit from Jaken the Hut had drawn the attention of several storm troopers who were on the lookout for anything suspicious. The Huts, being gangsters, were hard for the Empire to control and therefore dangerous. Many an eager storm trooper waited in the wings to snare one of the Huts' smugglers in the act. They perceived that this was their chance. Storm Troopers filed into the hanger one by one, setting up a perimeter. One officer, over a loud speaker, commanded them to come out of the ship.

"Oh no!" Shippo cried, "We're busted!"

"Blast it," Inu-yasha said. "Oh well. Nothing to do now except- PUNCH IT!" He hit the dash board and a small laser blaster came out of the Millennium Puzzle, firing in all directions as the ship took off, zooming up and away from the planet into space. As soon as they were free of Domino's gravity, they were surprised to find two Imperial starships closing in on them from the aft-side.

"Just how much trouble are you guys in?" Shippo asked, worriedly.

"Us!" Yugi and Rebecca cried. "You're the smugglers," Rebecca said, accusingly, "How do we know they're not after you?"

"Good point," Inu-yasha said. "Shippo, angle the deflector shield, while make the calculations for the jump to hyper speed."

"We got a transmission coming through," Shippo said. He hot button n the consol and a view of the starship's bridge came on.

"This is Commander Tristan of the Imperial Star Forces," said the guy in important clothes, "We order you to surrender the vessel."

"Our what?" Inu-yasha asked, cleaning an ear.

"Your vessel! Your vessel!" Tristan yelled.

Inu-yasha stared blankly at the screen.

"Your ship, you dog-eared moron!" Trsitan screamed, pulling his hair.

"Oh," Inu-yasha said, popping his finger out of his ear. "No. Shippo, punch it to hyper speed!"

"You got it!" Shippo said, jumping up and pressing a big red button. "Keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times, remember to buckle up!"

"You might wanna listen," Inu-yash said to the youngsters standing behind him. They rushed and got buckled in just as the ship went whizzing through space faster than the speed of light. This force sent poor Sang-3PO flying back and hitting the rear of the ship with a loud clang, since she was the only one not buckled in (or down in the case of Moku-D2, since he used the magnets on his feet to stay connected to the floor)

Meanwhile, on the Imperial ship, Tristan was jumping up and down on his cover in frustration.

"Blast it! That's it. We're just gonna have to catch up to them."

"Yes sir," Lt. Hiten said, "But they went straight into hyper speed."

"So? We got hyper speed. Don't we? Lt. Manten, what are the speeds on this thing?"

An ugly lizard like creature turned around and said, "She is a three speed model, sir. There's light speed, hyper speed, and ludicrous speed."

"Then hit it to ludicrous speed," commanded Tristan.

"Ludicrous speed!" every exclaimed.

Sgt. Ayumi grabbed Tristan's arm and pleaded. "No! Not ludicrous speed! It'll crush our brains!"

"Nonsense," Tristan assured her. "Ludicrous speed! NOW!"

Manten, with shaking finger, pressed the button. Suddenly, the ship took off, first hitting light speed, then hitting hyper speed, then hitting ludicrous speed! Leaving nothing but a blurred trail behind them.

In fact, at one point, the ship shot straight over and past the Millennium Puzzle. The force of the speeding starship rocked the little smuggler ship.

Transition

"What the hell was that!" Inu-yasha yelled.

"I think it was the Imperial Starship," Shippo said.