Ch.4 - No Need For Assassins
The Juraian war ship gracefully touched down on the ground. Tenchi and the others stood there and watched it. With their newly acquired knowledge, this ship arriving seemed somewhat sinister, but in some fashion, it was a reassuring sight, taking account the recent events on Jurai. Zack stood back though, as far back from the ship as he could. A few people descended from the ship. They were hard to make out at first, but soon came to be 3 men and a woman. The woman seemed to be a high ranking Juraian official in their military, while the 3 men seemed to be just regular guards. She had long black hair that flowed to her waste line. She wasnt wearing any ceremonial wardrobe that were common among the officials, but instead wore a uniform. She walked in long stiff strides, but wore a kind look on her face.
"Is this the.. Masaki residence?" the woman asked in a light cheerful voice.
Tenchi walked forward to meet her. "Err yes it is. May I ask who you are?"
Ayeka had just walked outside as Tenchi said this. She looked still in a bit of shock, but somewhat relieved as well. (Finally, a Juraian from home. Sure she can clear up this misunderstanding.) She thought to herself. Sasami followed close behind her. The woman took notice of the too and quickly hurried over to them, forgetting completely about Tenchi's question.
"Oh my! The princesses are still alive. Thank the gods." Said the woman almost hysterically. The guards followed close to her. "We were worried back on Jurai about you. Everyone's worried, with the emperor in such a terrible state...Come back with us. We must get you back to Jurai."
"Ayeka, get away from them. They arent who you think they are." Zack said, anger on his face.
"What are you talking about? They're Juraian military." Ayeka said.
The woman gasped. " Your one of the assassins. Guards, seize him! You will pay for your horrendous actions!"
At her command, the guards approached Zack with alarming speed. He put himself in a fighting stance, as he wasnt going to be taken down without a fight.
"Now wait a second." came the voice of Washu. "You havent told us who you are. And now your going to arrest this Dracadian without any evidence to us that he's part of some assassination attempt on the Emperor. Not exactly how the Juraian military acts."
The guards froze, waiting on their order, she signaled for them to hold on a moment. "Im part of Jurai's High command. My name is Kiyo. I was sent to come pick up the two princesses and bring them back to Jurai for protection from scum like him."
"Don't listen to her. Shes one of them. Part of that conspiracy, or what ever it is." Zack told the others.
"Lady Ayeka, we do not have time for this. We must really get you back to Jurai." Kiyo insisted.
"Yeah. She wants to go now, so she can quietly execute you in space where you have no protection." Zack shot back, the guards still standing there who seemed to be losing their patiance.
"Don't be absurd. Were here to escort her back to Jurai." Kiyo retorted.
"Yeah, then why is there only 4 of you? Its easy to control the situation with less people." Zack stated.
Kiyo seemed to be losing her good mood. She was becoming more aggressive to get Ayeka on board with Sasami and leave, as well as capture Zack. Ayeka was trying to go along, but as time went on, Sasami and the others began to doubt Kiyo.
"Come on already, Lady Ayeka. We must leave. We may be ambushed by your enemies." Kiyo pleaded, but obviously not in a good mood.
"You ARE her enemy" Zack said.
Kiyo's face turned a deep red in anger. She was not in a happy mood that this Dracadian was putting her in. "Grrrr, Shut your trap, foul Dracadian!"
She waved her hand and a guard came up from behind Zack and struck him on the back of his head. He collapsed, as his hair began to ooze from blood. "What a weak Dracadian. Bleeding from a minor hit like that. He's all talk and no bite!"
"What'd you do that for? That wasnt necess..." Tenchi began but quickly silenced he felt the feel of a squarish barrel press against the side of his head. A guard had it pointing at him.
"TENCHI!" Ayeka cried in response. "Gyah..."
She had moved to assist Tenchi but was back handed hard from Kiyo and fell to the ground unconscience. Ryoko clenched her fists and was about to attack when Kiyo drew a 'gun' on her and addressed her. "Make a move, I dare you, space pirate! The second you do, and your beloved Tenchi will be dead! Don't think I havent noticed your affection. That annoying savage laying over there in the grass gave us a hard time finding his ship, and when we did, we monitored the situation closely. So I know all about your affection towards this Juraian half-breed."
"Why you..." Ryoko said her teeth gritted
"What was that, pirate? Care to repeat that? Hm? I didn't think so. Rizu, seize that brat Sasami so we can get out of here already. Rei, take Ayeka after you finished off the Dracadian." Kiyo instructed her guards. A larger guard walked up Sasami who stood there stricken with fear. He grinned sadistically, and raised his hand to strike Sasami.
"Graaaaaarrrrrrrrg." The large guard stopped in mid swing by the cry of agony. He looked over to see a taller and slimmer guard crumpled over and burning intensely. Panic struck him.
"Its not nice to hit a lady, you know." Came a voice from behind. The tall guard turned around almost by reflex only to be met with a long energy lance of fire, that impaled him. He let out a cry of pain which was soon drowned out by the roar of flames as they burst around him and enveloped him in a casing of fire. He toppled over dead.
"Why you!" Said the third guard who had been keeping Tenchi at gun point, took his aim off Tenchi to shoot the Dracadian standing over the burning remains of his comrades. This mistake lead to his downfall. Tenchi took action and knocked him over and drew his master key and ignited it, keeping its blade at the guards neck.
Zack turned to face the woman named Kiyo. She gave a loud sigh and looked at her guards with disgust.
"You know, its so hard to find good help these days. What a pathetic and worthless bunch of guards. I guess one must do the jobs themselves, these days." Kiyo said looking down upon her guards. She seemed to vanish then right before their eyes.
"What the? Where'd she go." Ryoko said with a hint of maliciousness and charging a sphere of energy in her palms. "Im going to teach that wench a lesson."
Her question was answered with a stray shot of energy. She gracefully dodged out of the way and turned to face the direction it came from expecting to see Kiyo. But she didnt see anything more then the trees. Another shot came, from behind, though this time targetting Washu. She threw up a force field to protect her self and the attack splashed off the shielding. Another shot came, and another. Repetetive fire that Washu was simply reflecting with her barrier that now encompassed everyone there.
Ryoko Stood there bitterly, trying to get a glimpse of Kiyo. Tenchi was also alert looking out for her next attack, but had gathered Ayeka and Sasami over to him, protecting them incase the shield should fail. Sasami tended to Ayeka in the mean while. Zack sat down and just observed, not even seeming worried. Washu, however had a worried expression.
"Not good... not good at all." Washu said.
"What is it?" Asked Tenchi in response.
"The attacks are breaking the shield some how. I don't how but its slowly weaking the shield by drawing energy from it. Every shot she shoots is only getting stronger at the expense of my shield. We don't have a whole lot of time before it collapses." Washu said typing furiously at her Holo-computer trying to figure the situation out. Tenchi stiffened up his stance and Ryoko waited. Zack didnt seem unphased.
"...Washu" Zack findally said.
"What?" she said without even looking away from her computer screen.
"Drop the barrier when I say so." Zack said calmly as he got to his feet.
"Say what! We'll get hit you know. Tenchi cant block all of it and..." Washu began but was cut off as Zack told her to drop the shields then. She thought it was a bad idea but he proved to be right about most everything so far. She dropped the shield, and a salvo of attacks came from all directions, aiming for every one standing there. Zack drew back and then thrust his palm into the ground with might. Pillars of fire burst out of the ground with ferocity and absorbed ever shot fired in the blaze. He drew back again and performed the same stance, but this time the pillars shot up among the trees, followed by a series of small explosions. A seemingly off mark burst of fire shot up behind them, nearer to the house. Kiyo collapsed from the hit, coughing hard from the impact and smoke from her semi charred uniform.
"That takes care of that" Zack said with confidence walking over to Kiyo while clapping off his hands of dust. Tenchi and Washu were a bit taken back from the display Zack provided.
"W-way to go, Zack," Tenchi finally said.
(Show off...) Ryoko mumbled under her breath.
Zack knelt down in front of Kiyo. He lifted her bowed head with his index fingers.
"Now. Care telling us everything." Zack said with a smile.
"..." Kiyo just Stared at him with anger in her eyes. "..how?"
"Im a little smarter then that to know what low tricks you might be up to. Placing mini turrets on the trees and disguising their energy signatures with an over all heat build up. Clever. But I can still see the heat sources." Zack said standing up and looking down at her. "As for those injuries, Washu locking off my powers weakened me somewhat. Easier to injure.Thank god she had the common sense to take it off when your back was turned."
"...damn you!" Kiyo said. And with that she vanished into thin air once more. Zack spun around, well aware of her treachery by now. She was off running fast towards the Juraian ship waiting there on stand by.
"Damn, she's going to escape!" Zack said chasing after her. Kiyo boarded the ship and began take off. But she would never get the chase to gain altitude, as of that moment, a blast of energy pierced the ship down the middle. The ship erupted in a ball of flame, but was still managing on gaining altitude. More shots rained down from the heavens, each maiming the Juraian ship. It finally buckled, listed to its left, and crashed down heavy in the earth. It burst into flames, and then at once, it splintered and blew apart. Kiyo flew into the air comically and landed among the trees.
Tenchi looked up to see the a damaged Yagami slowly descending down to them. It landed gently as it could, but swayed over onto its side and crashed with a loud thunk as earth and dust was kicked up. An elevator hatch opened up and an elevator lowered itself down with two ladies on it. Kiyone was standing with her hand on her hip with a look of anger, while Mihoshi was tied up and gagged.
When the elevator reached the ground, Kiyone dragged Mihoshi off of it and over to Tenchi. It seemed like Kiyone didnt even notice the burning wreckage of a Juraian fleet ship.
"Washu, can you do me a favor and invent a device that can make Mihoshi grow a brain?" Kiyone said with annoyance in her voice. "I also need to have the Yagami repaired. As you can see, one of the thrusters is ruined, thanks to this accident waiting to happen."
Kiyone pointed to Mihoshi who was struggling to get undone from her restraints. Tenchi Walked over and freed her. Mihoshi gasped deeply and stretched out on the grass. "Heh heh.. Im soooorrrry Kiyoonee, I didnt mean to. Honest!"
"Gah will you shut your trap for just one minute." Kiyone said cursing the heavens under her breath for getting such a problematic partner.
"I can fix the Yagami pretty easy. Just give me a day or so, and it will be as good as new. That is until Mihoshi gets back in it." Washu said.
"Gee, Im hungry..." Mihoshi said out of the blue.
"Ryoko, go fetch that lady in the woods. We have some questioning to do." Washu said. Ryoko mumbled something under her breath and disappeared. Washu typed something in on her holo-computer.
"I take it that you guys had a fight with the occupants of that ship..." Kiyone said surveying the scene. A bubble formed around the corpses, after which the bodies of the guards disappeared completely.
"I take it you had a brush up with them as well..." Washu said looking at what was left of the Juraian ship.
"They pulled a hit and run. I got into orbit witnessing the last part of your dispute with them." Kiyone replied.
"Yeah well, Ryoko went to get their leader, and theres still one guard left, whos busy tied up right there." Washu pointed to the last remaining guard.
"Waaaah, is she alright Sasami?" wailed Mihoshi from where Sasami was taking care of Ayeka. Washu walked over with Kiyone and inspected Ayeka.
"Uhh" Ayeka moaned. She regained conscience and rubbed her cheek where she got back handed from. She winced. "Ow.."
"Looks like a nasty cut you have there. She have a ring on when she hit you? Ah well, I can get some of my spray tonic and things will be alright." Washu said summoning up her holo-computer again and making a small flask that looked like an old fashioned perfume bottle appear out of thin air. She took it in hand. "This may sting a bit..."
Washu sprayed a small bit on Ayeka's cheek, she winced as her eyes began to tear up from the pain. Washu smiled and instructed Ayeka,"Now you go inside and put some ice on that and it will be fine in an hour. Like nothing happened."
Sasami and Mihoshi helped her to her feet and walked in with her. Even though it may have been the after shock of being back handed, Washu felt that Ayeka had a kind of vacant look to her eyes, like something just broke into a million pieces and couldn't be put back together.
"Hm?" Washu said finally looking up and about. "Hey Tenchi, whered Zack go?"
Tenchi finally noticed he was missing and shrugged his shoulders and looked around.
"Zack?" Kiyone inquired. "EH?"
"Err, hi there..." Zack said from behind a shrub. His white robe was that he had worn the whole time was now shreds of string hanging off his shoulders, burnt in some places and torn in others. Didn't provide any real covering for him. "Ehh Washu, could I get a better change of clothing? Um, that explosion, err I was kinda to close. Ruined the robe. Eh..heh...heh..Sorry"
Washu laughed. "Hey Tenchi, I think we have to get our new house guest a wardrobe. I don't think he'd fit to well into your clothing."
"Hey, what do you want me to do with her?" Ryoko said finally returning.
"Those look like...Those arent bruises from her falling are they, Ryoko?" Tenchi said looking at Kiyo sheepishly.
"Oh she did fall...(many times)..." Ryoko said giggling under her breath.
"Take her to the lab. We'll get some useful info out of her," Washu said with a sadistic look on her face. She laughed at the thought of sucking Kiyo's brain of its knowledge. "Lots of info."
With that, they walked inside, Tenchi tired, Kiyone bewildered and blushing slightly, Zack in a new white long robe, and Washu grinning from ear to ear.