In the private conference room, Darth Kaiba waited anxiously fort he scout ships he'd sent to Musashi.
"Sir," said a trooper, "We found the remains of a Rebel base, but we estimate that it has been deserted for some time."
"I should have known she wouldn't have consciously betrayed the Rebellion." Kaiba said. He turned to the window, giving a view of space, and said, "I want her terminated as soon as possible."
"Yes sir," said the trooper before exiting.
Transition
"Okay, people, our little trip's coming to an end now," Inu-yasha said as they prepared to drop out of hyper speed. "I can't say it's been fun-"
"Cause it hasn't been," Shippo said.
"The planet is gone," Master Higurashi said.
"What are you taking about?" Inu-yasha asked.
"Drop out of hyper speed, and you'll see."
"Fine, old geezer, but I still think you're crazy," Inu-yasha said as he toggled the switch that brought the ship to a slow and steady halt.
When the ship had steadied, before them was what appeared to be a planet made entirely of metal, and hundreds of Imperial Starships.
"Holy crap!" Yugi cried.
"We're gonna die, aren't we?" Shippo asked Inu-yasha.
"No," he said, "I'll just turn around and get the heck out of here," he said, switching everything he could.
"Useless," Gramps Higurashi said. "You're already in range of it's tractor beam."
As Inu-yasha tried every switch on the board, Sang-3PO pointed out, "He must be right, because we're still moving towards it."
"Damn," Inu-yasha said. "Shippo, angle the deflector shields and charge all weapons! They aint getting me without a fight."
"There moments when you can fight, and moments when it is useless." Higurashi said. "Wait and find a good place to hide," said the old man as he led the droids and the youngsters to the back of the ship.
"That guy's gonna get us killed," Inu-yasha complained.
"Have you got a better idea?" Shippo asked, unbuckling and following them.
Inu-yasha sighed, shrugged, unbuckled and followed them too.
Transition
As the pyramid shaped ship docked in side the Sphere, Darth Kaiba waited outside as troopers and tech-droids examined the inside.
"Well? Is there anything in there?" Kaiba asked impatiently.
"Nothing we can find, sir," said a trooper, coming out, "All the escape pods have been jettisoned. And according to the ship's log, no one's been aboard since it blasted out of Mos Kyoto."
"Mos Kyoto?" Kaiba asked. "Isn't that where one of our ships disappeared?"
"Yes sir. It was last seen heading into Ludicrous Speed, and was never heard from again."
Suddenly, Kaiba looked up and around. He seemed to be zoning out.
"Sir?" asked the trooper.
"I feel something," Kaiba said. "A presence I haven't felt in years…" he turned swiftly, swirling his cape, and left the hanger bay.
Transition
Inside the Puzzle, a section of the floor lifted up, and Gramps Higurashi, Yugi, Rebecca, Inu-yasha, Shippo, and Sang-3PO poked their heads out.
"Are they gone?" Shippo asked.
"Yes," Gramps said, "But not for long."
"Great," said Rebecca. "I should have just stayed on Domino and sold what was left of my stuff for scrap metal."
"Don't be scared, Rebecca," Yugi said. "Everything will be alright."
"How do figure that?" Inu-yasha asked.
"Now now, no fighting," Higurashi said. "If I can sneak past the guards and get to the tractor beam control center, I might be able to turn it off long enough to get out of here."
"You stick our like a sore thumb everywhere!" Inu-yasha yelled. "How are getting past an army!"
"Don't yell at him," Yugi said, "He's a great man!"
"He's a walkin fossil," Inu-yasha argued.
"If you two keep arguing, they'll find us!" Moku-D2 interrupted. "Can't we say you're both right?"
"Such disrespect from the young!" Higurashi said, crying.
"I have an Idea," Sang-3PO said.
"We're listening," everyone replied.
Transition
Outside, two tech guys were carrying in some scanning equipment. Once they were out of sight from the guards, Inu-yasha came up behind them, and knocked them out, then yelled out to the four guards, "Hey! Can you give us a hand with this?"
The guards came on in, suspecting nothing. The, Gramps Higurashi, Yugi, and Inu-yasha overpowered them, tied them up, and took their uniforms.
"Come on," Inu-yasha said through the helmet's com-link. They walked out the ship, and walked around, up to the auxiliary control room, where they knocked more guards. Then, Moku-D2 wheeled over to the control panel, and scanned the Death Sphere's computer files on any information about the tractor beam.
"Here it is," he said. "there are seven power junctions that control it on each level. A power loss at just one of these would disrupt the entire network."
"And give us enough time to escape," Rebecca said.
"Right," said Master Higurashi, "Were's the closet one?"
"Level four, section B" Moku-D2 answered. "It's heavily guarded though."
"No problem for me," said the old man. He turned and opened the door, and said, "I want all of you to wait here for me."
"But I want to come to, Master," Yugi said.
"No, Yugi," the teacher replied, "You must stay here and watch after the droids. If they are captured, all is lost. The Force will be with you, Little Yugi. Always." then he slipped out the door, his hood over his face, and he ran into a wall before the door closed again.
"That's our only hope?" Shippo asked.
"We're doomed." Rebecca said.
"I'm gonna see if they have any decent video games on this thing," Moku-D2 said, fiddling with the computer.
"Well, might as well take a nap," Inu-yasha said, sitting down.
"What's this?" Moku-D2 said. He gasped. "I don't believe it! I found her, she's here!"
"Who?" Sang-3PO asked.
"She's here! I found her!" Moku-D2 repeated.
"Found who?" Inu-yasha demanded.
"Princess Kagome," the little droid replied.
"Who?"
"The girl in the message?" Yugi asked.
"That's the one," Moku-D2 said.
"We have to rescue her!" Yugi said.
"Rescue who!" Inu-yasha yelled. "What's goin on?"
"She's scheduled to be terminated," Sang-3PO said, looking at the monitor.
"Then we have to hurry," Yugi said, but Inu-yasha grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.
"Hold it, you're not going anywhere until you explain to me who this princess is, why we have to risk our necks to save her."
"Because," Moku-D2 said, "She's the leader of the rebellion and we have to save her because she's the only person besides me who knows the weakness to the Death Sphere."
"So? Go get yourselves killed,' Inu-yasha said, crossing his arms and sitting down.
Yugi then got an idea. "Well, you know, she is royalty. And royalty are usually pretty darn rich."
"Yeah, so? How's that any good to me?" Inu-yasha asked.
"If you help us save her, the reward could be huge!" Yugi said. "You could pretty much name your price."
"We could have enough to pay back Jaken, and have some left over for candy!" Shippo said, jumping on Inu-yasha's shoulder. "Please, please, can we help them?"
"Oh fine," groaned Inu-yasha. "I'll help. But if we get caught, I'm gonna kill you, Yugi."
"Fair exchange," Yugi said nervously. "Sang-3PO, Moku-D2, you stay here and lock the door. And if any storm troopers come in, try a diversion." Then, all of them putting on their helmets, the three two kids, the smuggler, and the fox child (who looked like a helmet sliding along the floor) went off to the detention block.
Transition
As he finished the breaking the last component of the power grid, Master Higurashi turned off his light saber and wiped the sweat from his wrinkled brow.
"There. That blasted Light Saber actually came in handy for once," said the old Knight.
"Not that you ever knew how to use it properly in the first place," said a voice from behind.
The old man gasped and then turned around, "Well, if it isn't my old pupil: Darth Kaiba. You decided your card games were too boring?"
"On the contrary, old man," Kaiba said, revealing an Imperial Duel Disk, "I'm here to duel you."
"I don't duel with playing cards, lad," Higurashi said turning his Light Saber back on, "You know my style."
"Very well then," Kaiba said, getting out his own Light Saber, which was six feet long and glowed bright red.
They stared at one another for a while, until Higurashi gasped and said, "What's that over there!"
"Huh?" Kaiba said, turning quickly to look. When he turned back, Higurashi hand turned tail and made a run for it.
"Ha ha!" laughed the old man, "He falls for that every time."
"Come back here you cantankerous walking corpse!" yelled Kaiba. Then the old man looked over his shoulder and gasped in horror as he saw Darth Kaiba levitating off the ground, coming at him fast, his red Light Saber poised to strike him down.
"ARRGGHHHH! Feet, don't fail me now!" yelled Higurashi.
Transition
On the detention level, Yugi, Rebecca, and Inu-yasha stepped off the elevator, and were met by a Captain of the Prison Guard, Duke Devlin.
" Can I help you…troopers?" he asked, looking down at Shippo.
"We're here to escort the Princess to her execution," Yugi said.
"That's not for three hours," Cap. Devlin replied.
"They bumped it up," Inu-yasha said.
"I wasn't notified," Devlin said. "I'll have to clear it." As he went for the com-link, Inu-yasha blasted him, and then Shippo threw off his helmet and started throwing fox fire at the other guards, whilst Yugi and Rebecca took care of the security cameras.
"Alright, shorty, now get this stupid Princess and let's get out of here." Inu-yasha said. Yugi nodded, and headed down the hallway, to the last door on the row. He opened it, and laying down, facing the wall was a figure in white.
"Hi I'm Yugi, I'm here to rescue you," he said, taking off the helmet.
"Oh thank goodness," said the old man as he sat up quickly.
Yugi's face went white, "Uh…"
Just then, Rebecca poked her head into the cell and cried, "Grampa! I knew you were alive!"
"Rebecca, I'm so glad," said the older gentleman, hugging her.
"Uh, where's the princess?" Yugi asked.
"Oh, she's the one across the hall," Prof. Hawkins said.
"Thanks," Yugi said, running across the hall just as Inu-yasha yelled, "Hey kid! We got company!" and the dog-eared smuggler stared firing his blaster as troopers started to swarm in.
Yugi opened the door, and saw a very pretty girl with long black hair chewing bubble gum. As the young boy stared, she looked up and said, "Take a picture it'll last longer."
"Oh, sorry," Yugi said, "I'm Yugi and I'm here to rescue you."
"Who?" she asked.
"I'm Yugi Motou, I came here with Master Higurashi."
"You did? Where is he?" she asked, getting up.
"Shutting off the tractor beam, now hurry," Yugi said, leading her and Prof. Hawkins down the hall, where Inu-yasha was still fighting the storm troopers.
"Bout time," Shippo said. Then, he looked up at Kagome and said, "Wow! She's pretty! And you didn't want to save her," he said to Inu-yasha.
"What?" Kagome asked.
"Never mind that?" Inu-yasha said. "How are we gonna get out of here?"
"Leave that to me," Yugi said, as he extended his blue Light Saber. He ran out, yelling as he prepared to bust some skulls.
'Whoa! Time out!" one of the storm troopers cried. Yugi came to a screeching halt. "Yuge, is that you man?" asked the trooper.
"No way!" Yugi said, turning off his Saber. "It can't be!"
"Dude, what are you doing here?" said the young man as he took off his helmet, revealing a kind face and shock of blond hair.
"Joey? Is it really you?" Yugi asked.
"He knows him?" Inu-yasha asked, confused.
"Some rescue," Kagome said.
"Yugi?" asked two more storm troopers as they removed their helmets. One was a lovely blond lady, the other a young man with white hair.
"Bakura? Mai?" Yugi asked.
"Yugi, hun, you should so come to the Dark Side," Mai said.
"They got free food," Joey said, giving him a thumbs up.
"I can't do that," Yugi said. "I have to rescue the Princess. Why don't you guys join the good side? Fight for the resistance?"
"I thought we were fighting on the good side," Bakura said.
"Well you're not," Kagome said, "And we got better food than the slop these guys serve."
At that Joey said, "Alright! I'm in!"
Transition
As Kaiba continued to pursue Master Higurashi, he heard over the com-link that an armed group of rebels had broken into the detention level and freed not only the Princess, but Prof. Hawkins.
"Now I'm very mad," Darth Kaiba said as he sped up and came closer and closer up bhind Master Higurashi.
"I've got to but those kids some time," the Master said. He stopped, and turned, raising his Light Saber again.
"Are you actually going to fight me this time?" Kaiba asked angrily.
"Of course," Higurashi said. "But know this, Kaiba, if you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can ever imagine."
"Spare me," Kaiba said as he struck, and Master Higurashi parried.
Outside, on the docking bay, Yugi and his new band of Rebels had rejoined Sang-3PO and Moku-D2 and were running for the Millennium, when the boy looked, and saw his teacher locked in mortal combat.
Master Higurashi looked over and saw his young pupil. Then, smiling, he stood straight, and let Kaiba swing his Saber through his gut.
"NO!" Yugi cried as the old man's brown robes fell in on themselves. Inu-yasha had turn around, and grab Yugi dragging him up the ramp, kicking and screaming, as Darth Kaiba turned and walked towards the closing blast doors.
Transition
Inside, as Inu-yasha and Shippo were prepping the ship and firing lasers, Yugi sat, numb and blank. All his friends looked at him with concern, seeing the sadness in his eyes.
Kagome came over with his poncho, and draped it on his shoulders.
"It'll be ok," she said.
"I can't believe he's gone," Yugi said. "How could this happen?"
"Hold on to your seats!" Inu-yasha yelled back to them. "We're not of the woods yet! I need everyone to help me man the laser cannons!" he said as the ship went screeching out of the hanger and into space, zooming away as it was followed by a swarm of Imperial Fighters.
"You can count on me," Joey said, going up the ladder into one gun turret.
"Yugi, get the other one," Inu-yasha barked.
"Oh- Okay," Yugi said, running down to the other turret.
"Are you sure this thing'll make it?" Kagome asked.
"Course she will," Inu-yasha answered. As Joey and Yugi picked off the fighters one by one, and Inu-yasha sped out on hyperspace once again.
Transition
"Did you secure the homing device within their ship?" Kaiba asked.
"Yes sir," said on of the storm troopers. "We should be able to follow them now."
"Perfect," Kaiba said, "Now all we have to do is wait."
