INVASION, Interlude 4: Missing in Action.
DISCLAIMER: Based on characters created by Masaki Kajishima. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki is copyright AIC. I do not own or claim any rights to the series or characters.
FOREWORD: Fifteen years is a long time to put a story on ice. But every so often I kept coming back to it. Eventually, with the resurgence in popularity of TM: Ryo-ohki, the English release of the True Tenchi Muyo novels, and a 5th OVA in preproduction, I finally felt like it was time to finish this. Plus I wanted to do something to celebrate 25 years of TM. I hope everyone enjoys the story and character development.
For those of you that may have forgotten or are new to this fan-fic, I started this story way back before OAV 3 or GXP. All we had back then was two OVAs, the japanese TTM novels, some doujinshi, and the manga to work with for sources. Yes, this fic includes some characters from the manga by Hitoshi Okuda such as Minagi.
At the time I started using the characters of Seiryu, Shuzan, and Shusan, GXP had not yet been made. So please excuse Seiryu's presence in House Amaki. I would also remind everyone that at the time I was translating the TTM novels I made a small error in translation with regards to the current head of House Amaki, and used Shusan instead of Shuzan. Rather than ret-con it, I chose to leave it as is. In this fic Shusan is the head of house. Shuzan is his nephew, and younger brother to Seiryu.
AUTHOR: Dreamr
EMAIL: TrueDreamr
LAST REVISION: 23 September 2021
BEGIN.
Lord Shusan Amaki Jurai sat in a comfortable chair in his palace office reviewing the incoming intelligence reports from the various hotspots of conflict in the empire. Finally, he was getting his due. And it was all thanks to that business man, Biff Standard and his new computer software.
The information he was getting through the Unity System would never have been made available to him by those mewling Masakis, and certainly not by that devil-princess, Seto. Now he was no longer hobbled by their narrow-sightedness and secrecy. Information was power, and he had so much power now that he was not quite sure what to do with it all.
Most of the data were standard reports of no consequence. But a sighting of the space-pirate Minagi innocuously nestled in amungst the other reports gave him pause.
The small-time space pirate was not only a wanted criminal, but also a friend of the Masakis. Additionally, Standard had mentioned how the pirate had been raiding his trade fleets lately, and would appreciate something being done about it. However, most of Jurai's forces were busy, and GP had as of yet failed to arrest her.
As much as he would like to knock a few legs out from under House Masaki's support structure, Minagi was, in the long run, of little importance. But her capture would at least cause them some public embarrassment. After a few seconds of consideration, he decided to simply forward the report to Standard. His company had a significant private security force. They should be able to deal with it.
Highlighting the report on his terminal, Shusan forwarded it through a highly encrypted private channel to the requester.
Sitting back, Shusan allowed himself a small chuckle. It always did his heart good to enforce the laws of the empire, most especially when doing so would also benefit his family. No debt would remain unpaid once he assumed his rightful place as King of Jurai.
Of course, as King, he would eventually need to ensure the future of his family line. Perhaps it was time to recall his nephews from the Galaxy Academy. He had kept them waiting there for over two years now. His younger nephew should be quite excited by that prospect, assuming that in the interim Shuzan had not yet found another young woman to take the younger Masaki daughter's place.
Speaking of Shuzan, the boy should be well into his bio-enhancement training by now. No time like the present. He initiated a call to the Galaxy Academy. As expected, it was Seiryu that answered.
"Uncle." Seiryu pleasantly answered. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"I require a report on your brother's progress."
"Ah." Seiryu smiled brightly, "Shuzan is progressing nicely. He is already capable of moving about on his own without trouble. Soon he will be ready to resume his normal studies."
"Excellent." Shusan praised his elder nephew, "I had expected this to take longer. Shusan is to be praised."
"Perhaps Uncle would care to do so himself?"
"Never mind that." Shusan waved off the suggestion. "I have instructions for the two of you once Shuzan is able. Prepare to return to Jurai."
"At once, my Lord. Shall I inform you when the preparations are complete?"
"Hmm... yes." Shusan distractedly responded. A plan was already forming in his mind. "Yes, do that. I'll arrange for someone to meet you when you arrive."
The insistent beeping coming from one of his terminals made Kagato sneer with frustration. He absolutely abhorred being interrupted.
With a single punch of his finger the terminal displayed the message to him. His ire turned to anticipation as he read the message to himself.
"At last! Now we will see which is the superior."
With a wave of his hand he dismissed all but one of a massive set of holographic interfaces and stood. He would need to inform Naja that he was leaving for a short time.
"Professor." he called aloud to the voice-activated internal communications system.
There was no answer. Another delay. With a hiss of impatience, he left the main lab and made his way along the well-lit and sometimes haunted corridors to Professor Akara's private lab. To his surprise the door was locked and the security system active. He contemplated what kind of experimentation she could be engaged in that would require locking him out.
"Hmm..."
Opening his holo-terminal, he starting checking on the facility power usage. The results made him smile.
"Ah, yes. The Astral Laboratory. Well, that makes things so much simpler, doesn't it?"
Seto awoke with a start. Why would she dream of her childhood? It was unusual for her to be woken from a deep sleep by a dream. In fact, she rarely dreamt at all. After five thousand years of life, one had a tendency to sleep well no matter what happened during the day. Assuming she could get to sleep at all. She had been plagued by insomnia and headaches through much of her life. It came and went seemingly at random. But lately a full night's sleep had been quite elusive.
With a sigh, she slipped out of bed and donned a light robe before heading to the wine butler. A glass of wine to relax sometimes did the trick.
Glass in hand, Seto then made her way to her bedroom balcony and sat back onto a roman-style sofa to enjoy the scenery and night air.
But the scenery did nothing for her. Soon she felt a throbbing setting up deep in her mind. Perhaps the wine was not such a good idea after all.
"Wonderful." she murmured to herself. "Another sleepless night." At least there was no one around to hear her griping like an old woman.
At first the pain was tolerable. But it quickly grew worse. Seto put a hand over her eyes and groaned. It had been a long time since she'd had a migraine. But why tonight? Maybe she really was getting old. At least it was dark. Light only ever made it worse.
Recalling the medical advice she had received so long ago about how to minimize the pain, she tried her best not to think about anything and just relax. It helped not one bit. Soon her head felt like it was splitting open. The wine glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. She put both hands to her head and groaned again.
She could call for aid. But Seto's pride kept her silent. She would be damned before she would call for help. She had dealt with migraines before. She could do it again.
For a short while she was able to handle the pain. But before long she felt like someone was trying to rip her skull out. Seto reached for the small side table to help her balance as she rose to her feet. But all she managed was to knock it over as she fell to her knees, and then to the floor.
Even if a certain prideful princess refused to call for aid, even if she were alone in her apartments, all bonded members of the royal family were never truly alone. Her tree, Mikagami, decided that she was being a fool, and made the call for her.
Minutes later Utsutsumi burst into Seto's private chambers escorted by two Kamiki house guards and a pair of medical technicians pushing an emergency gurney.
"Lady Seto!"
Utsutsumi unerringly headed straight for the bedroom balcony, where he found his wife curled up on the floor, clutching her head and twitching in agony.
"Oh, my dear wife..." he quickly scooped her up and laid her upon the medical gurney. As soon as the techs activated the gurney's medical stasis field, Seto seemed to relax a bit.
"Quickly, now." Utsutsumi urged them on. "And not a word to anyone."
Minagi stood in the automated transport ship's hold surveying the war materials she had just appropriated. If there was an instruction book for pirating, this attack would be in it. Everything had gone perfectly. Escorts destroyed. Transport captured. Goods confiscated.
The escort ships had been numerous. But her ship, Hinase, was up to the task. She had only taken a few light hits, all of which could be easily repaired from the loot before her, while the robotic escorts had been obliterated. What was left she would route to Jurai or local people to help them.
Interstellar commerce within Jurai space was suffering. Most living people in outer space these days were either free-lance smugglers trying to make a living or para-military mercenaries working for pay. Unlike them this ship was operated entirely by computer. She had encountered only automated defense robots, which she had dispatched just as quickly as the robotic ships outside.
As she walked through the massive cargo-hold of the captured transport ship surveying the spoils, something tugged on her right foot. Minagi expected to see some sort of exposed edge or a discarded rope caught on her billowy pants leg when she looked down. Instead she was shocked to see a woman's disembodied hand grasping her ankle.
"What the -"
The hand suddenly tossed Minagi across the cargo bay. If she had had no warning, perhaps Minagi might have crashed head-first into a towering stack of cargo containers. But since she had seen her attacker beforehand, she managed to rotate mid-air and get her feet under her, so that she could absorb the impact rather than crashing into the stockpile of containers. Pushing off of the stack without disturbing it, she sprang through the air with unnatural agility and summoned her sword.
Looking towards the place from where she had been thrown, Minagi saw that her enemy was female, well proportioned with emerald-colored hair, and wore a skin-tight black leotard that covered her from neck to toe. But upon seeing the face of her enemy, Minagi pulled her strike, intentionally missing and instead landing well behind the woman.
"Ryoko?" she asked turning around to face her attacker.
The woman that looked so much like Ryoko turned to face her. Without any sign of recognition or emotion, she summoned her own orange energy sword and leapt to the attack. Minagi raised her sword to defend herself, though she was still hesitant to strike back. However, her attacker disappeared just before reaching her.
Recognizing the attack pattern, Minagi teleported away just in time to avoid a sword swipe from behind.
"What the heck?!" Minagi shouted down from up in the air just below the cargo bay's iron-girdered ceiling. "Why are you attacking me?"
The Ryoko look-alike raised a hand in Minagi's direction. Bolts of yellow energy flew from her outstretched palm. Flying along the underside of the ceiling, Minagi dodged left and right, avoiding the bolts all together. They struck the ceiling and exploded, filling the air with beads of molten metal and clouds of noxious fumes from whatever materials might be bound into the ship's interior alloys. She quickly ducked behind another stack of containers and held still so that she would have a few seconds to take stock of the situation. The explosions stopped, leaving only the sound of crackling fire and Minagi's pounding heart.
Ryoko or not, this person was using abilities similar to Ryoko. But Minagi had never seen her acting so emotionlessly. There were no taunts or laughter. And where were the others? Where were Tenchi or Ryo-ohki? The whole situation was too odd.
Fortunately, there was a simple way to learn the truth. Reaching out with her mind, Minagi tried to contact Ryoko via telepathic link. There was no response. In fact, she could not sense Ryoko at all. But there was a great deal of telepathic noise. A jamming signal? Was it even possible to jam a telepathic link?
Kneeling down on the deck, Minagi refocused her mind on the environment around her. After a short time she detected the slight variation in dimensional alignment that occurred whenever she or Ryoko teleported or walked through solid matter. Rolling forward, she dodged another sword swipe that would surely have taken off her head, instead losing only a few loose strands of hair.
Turning about as quickly as she could, Minagi barely defended a flurry of sword strikes. Still the person before her showed no emotion as she struck again and again. Not even so much as a twitch of the lips or a growl of aggression betrayed her emotions. In fact, the woman was utterly calm and collected.
The woman's attack pattern followed traditional swordplay techniques, which was strange coming from a being that so closely resembled Ryoko. Minagi kept expecting her to do something overly aggressive or unexpected. But she did nothing like that. She was strong and quick, and used her abilities well. But beyond that, she was completely unimaginative and eerily quiet.
Staying on the defensive until she could get a better idea of what kind of skills this - was it a clone of some kind? - possessed, Minagi held her opponent back while analyzing her attack patterns and tendencies. If this opponent was a creature of rote training and tradition and did nothing out of the ordinary, relying on its superior power and training rather than imagination and will, then she could probably fool it without much trouble.
Faking fatigue, Minagi began to give ground, allowing her attacker to push her around and force her into seemingly awkward positions. She intentionally bumped into things until finally faking a stumble. The being quickly moved in with a powerful overhead swing. But as soon as its arms went up, Minagi directed a massive lightning bolt right into it's unprotected face. The clone's head exploded in a brief shower of gore. The body fell to the ground and then evaporated like fog in the morning sun.
Somewhat surprised at how easily she had defeated this opponent, Minagi stood up with her sword held ready just in case her enemy was not defeated and instead came at her from some other angle. She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard slow applause.
"Ooh. You are indeed the result of Yakage's diligent work."
"Who's there?" Minagi spun around looking for the speaker.
"I expected you would defeat a single opponent. Still, it was informative. Now on to phase two. How will you fare against a dozen?"
Minagi's blood ran cold. One she could handle. A couple at once she could probably defeat, or several in succession. But a dozen all at once? No way. It was time to leave.
"Let's not find out." she declined the invitation before attempting to teleport back to her ship.
The familiar dimensional distortion engulfed her, momentarily rendering her senses incoherent. But instead of the expected smooth shift through space-time, she slammed into some form of shield while in transit. The experience was jarring, and involuntarily thrust her back into normal space right in the midst of the energy shield that was preventing her from leaving the captured ship's cargo bay.
Energy coursed through Minagi's body, making her muscles twitch and jump with the ebb and flow of its powerful charge.
With a shout of defiance, Minagi mentally forced her body out of the shield. Tendrils of steam streamed from her body as she fell through the air. Just before striking the cold metal deck she righted herself, landing cat-like on the corrugated deck. Looking quickly around, she noted several more of the female combatants emerging from the sealed containers around her. Well, now she had her answer. They had to be clones or some other kind of copy.
As one, the new clones raised hands in her direction. Apparently, they had learned from the death of their comrade and intended to blast her from range rather than engaging in close quarters combat. Minagi quickly teleported elsewhere within the confines of the cargo bay.
The boxes behind her exploded in a shower of metal shrapnel and matter-antimatter annihilation. As she lay momentarily dazed by the blast, energy bolts rained down around her. Only her combat instincts, forged through untold years of harsh tutelage under her master, Yakage, protected her.
A short range teleport straight up brought her into close quarters with three clones. Fighting with the ferocity of a cornered animal, Minagi maneuvered to keep them from surrounding her while focusing her attacks on the nearest enemy, all the while dodging more energy bolts thrown from opponents she either couldn't see or was just too busy to deal with.
As she fought, any minor wounds she inflicted on the clones were ignored and healed within seconds. But this was expected. Critical wounds like losing a limb had the same result, though that at least resulted in a momentary loss of ability which she could capitalize on. Even carving them in half would only result in the defeated warrior clawing its way to its severed part and effecting a self-reassembly. It was only until she struck a completely lethal blow such as decapitation or total obliteration that they would fall.
If they had fought with any real skill or coordination Minagi felt sure that she would have been killed. However capable they were, they did not use their abilities to their fullest extent, like the real Ryoko might have. Minagi used this flaw to her advantage repeatedly. Soon she was teleporting rapidly and striking from all angles, using the element of surprise to deal the lethal blows that were required to defeat these particular enemies.
However, they still managed to inflict their fair share of injuries upon her. They attacked with swords, energy, and even fought her hand to hand in an effort to restrain her movements. It was all but impossible to avoid every attack.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Minagi found herself running out of opponents. Soon, she was spinning around looking for the next clone, but there were none. Only the soft clapping of gloved hands echoed through the cargobay.
"Excellent! Most impressive! Yakage's training must have been quite thorough."
Bloody, battered, winded, and depleted, Minagi looked around for the source of the voice.
"What do you know of Master Yakage?"
A man with silver hair, spectacles, and drab-colored robes floated towards her through a set of storage boxes, just as the clones had done. That could not be good for her.
"He sought to achieve power that was beyond his limits by mimicking them through technology. Only true power can defeat true power. One cannot fake such things. Minagi, you have power!"
The man raised his hand palm upwards in a dramatic gesture. His eyes glowed with a fierce greenish light.
"I also have power. Since these..." he gestured with his free hand towards the rapidly evaporating remains, "cheap copies were insufficient for a proper test, I will now give you your final evaluation."
Turning his hand over, the man formed a fist. A large blade of green energy crackled into life between them.
"Space Pirate Minagi, I must admit that it will give me no small pleasure to defeat you."
If there was one thing Minagi actually liked about this guy, it was all the time he was giving her to catch her breath before he attacked. On the other hand, she couldn't stand his humongous ego. Maybe she could get into his head before the fight actually started.
"Will this be a fair fight, or are you hiding more of your little minions around here somewhere? And how do you know Ryoko?"
"Ryoko was... defective. She caused me no end of trouble. I am quite glad to be rid of her. And while these are not as effective in combat as of yet, unlike Ryoko they do exactly as instructed. With the proper training they will be sufficient for my needs."
"If they're so much better than Ryoko, and I beat all of them at the same time, what makes you think I won't completely embarrass you?"
Kagato's self-assured smile was quickly replaced with a snarl.
"You will suffer for that."
With that proclamation, Kagato flew forward, his sword upraised in an obvious slashing attack. Minagi vanished as his sword swiped through the air where she had been.
"So predictable!"
Kagato swung around with a reverse horizontal attack. Minagi threw herself backwards just in time to avoid being cut in half. Kagato's ravening green blade smashed her own sword aside and just clipped her on the forehead.
Despite the impact of throwing herself to the deck, Minagi could feel the wetness dripping down the side of her forehead. But there was no time to think. Kagato's sword was already poised for a massive downward strike that would slice her in two. She rolled away. The deck plates sparked and melted where he had struck.
Seeing a momentary opening, Minagi went in for a backhand at Kagato's knee. But he whipped his sword up and knocked her strike aside as a man would swat aside a fly. Again she felt her arms nearly pulled from the sockets with the force of his deflection.
Kagato's sword continued up and over into another downward strike. Having no time to move out of the way, Minagi raised her sword to block. The strength of his attack drove her to her knees. A streak of pain erupted on her shoulder. Somehow she had managed to keep her own sword between them, preventing it from cutting deeply.
Minagi spun away, simultaneously kicking at Kagato's legs. This forced him to take to the air or be upended. But as she spun and rolled across the metal floor, Kagato floated closely behind, repeatedly stabbing at her like a cat playing with a mouse.
"Is this the best Yakage's student has to offer? Perhaps my initial impression was incorrect!"
Minagi fetched up against a cargo container, bringing her rolling escape to an end. But that was what she needed. Descending back to the floor, Kagato stabbed down again. Minagi pushed off from the box and floor, sending herself spinning up into the air. Twisting quickly, she finally landed a strike of her own, though it was only a spinning kick to the head.
As unhappy with this turn as she was satisfied with it, Kagato tried to swat her aside. Minagi dropped down low again and cut at his left thigh. The blow landed, cutting his leg and splashing his pants with green blood. Kagato's leg gave out as he tried to turn with his more agile opponent, forcing him to one knee.
Minagi dropped her sword point so that it hovered right in Kagato's face.
"Guess you were wrong. Duel's over. I win. Now drop the shield so I can leave."
Kagato raised a hand as if in surrender. But to her surprise, he grabbed her sword in his off hand. His self-assured sneer clued her in to the threat. But when he pulled on her sword, she felt loath to drop it. It was her sword; her weapon, her soul. How could she call herself a samurai if she let her sword be taken so easily? The hesitation cost her dearly. Kagato pulled her closer and thrust his own green blade straight into her midsection.
Then the energy attack came. Minagi screamed as Kagato's power ravaged her innards. The pain was far worse than becoming a power conduit for a royal tree. Her mind quickly shut down, and she fell unconscious to the floor.
Chuckling to himself, Kagato rose unsteadily to his feet. For a moment, he favored his injured leg. But the wound soon healed, and he was able to stand normally, victorious over his opponent.
"That was not uninteresting. But your kindness was your undoing. Now then."
Raising a single hand, Kagato telekinetically lifted Minagi's limp body up off the floor and rotated her to an upright position. He then removed his glove. The shadow of his invisible hand stretched across Minagi's unconscious face. A moment later, her eyes popped open and she screamed loudly enough to drown out even Kagato's maniacal laughter.
END.
AFTERWORD:
Originally I wanted this chapter a bit later in the volume. But after looking at the timing with later events I realized that this chapter really needed to be earlier to allow for those other events to unfold properly. I hope you have enjoyed it!