Alrighty, second chapter up! And wow, my brain hurts…
Anywho, I checked the stats for the first chapter, and I'm pretty happy with the number of hits I got. It means you guys are reading it, and it makes me all the more proud. So thanks a lot!
Well, uh… here ya go! Chapter Two of "Tracing Lines"!
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or Tenchi. I do, however, own this story, so there.
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Chapter 2 – Lights, Camera, Action!
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"This is my last one, I swear!!"
"Mihoshi, ya pig, give it here! You've had four already!"
"But I'm still hungry!"
"But I haven't eaten anything since we left four hours ago!"
The blonde haired woman ran behind her seat, cradling a bowl of instant noodles in her arms like a mother would with her baby. It would've been a good analogy except that this mother had the personality of a spoiled five year old, and hands as secure as a rusty nail trying to hold up an elephant. She stood alert, ready to make a run for it if her partner suddenly decided to chase her down.
Kiyone massaged hard at her temples. For a brief moment, she wondered just how much jail time she would have to spend if she decided to 'accidentally' pull the trigger on her laser gun that happened to be pointing at Mihoshi's head. As tempting as that sounded, she crossed out that idea and tried to come by with a more non-violent approach.
The blue haired woman rubbed a gloved hand down her face and let it rest, covering her nose and lips. Her eyes suddenly widened.
"OH MY GOD! Mihoshi! Behind you!" Kiyone yelled, pointing a finger behind her partner. Mihoshi blinked for a second. Then she playfully wagged her finger at her direction.
"Ah ah ah! That's not very nice Kiyone; trying to trick me like that…" She smirked.
Kiyone rose an eyebrow. "Oh? Well it's gonna be about seventy years till Halley's Comet comes by again and--"
"HALLEY'S COMET?!? WHERE?!?" Mihoshi squealed and turned around quickly, forgetting about the noodles in her hands and letting it drop in her seat as she pressed her face against the window of Yagami. She looked around, finding nothing but a couple of stars.
"Halley! Oh Halley! Where'd ya go?" She asked out loud.
Kiyone rushed over and grabbed the noodles off the seat, completely satisfied that her trick worked.
'Yes! Now I can finally eat!' She happily thought.
She didn't have the chance to peel off the covering as the alert signal from the dashboard blared out. Kiyone growled, tossing the food aside; she was so close! She pressed one of the buttons on her arm rest, and watched a hologram light up in front of her, revealing a map of where everything that was in the solar system was located. She looked to the right. Something huge was flying across the screen, and it definitely didn't look normal.
"Hey Mihoshi, look at this…" She called over. Mihoshi unstuck her face from the window and waddled over to the hologram. She did what she was told and looked down. A huge circle was flying past Saturn and was heading towards Jupiter at a fast rate. Mihoshi's mouth widened in surprise.
"Whoa! Waddya know! Halley's Comet! I didn't know you could see THAT far, Kiyone…" She said, bewildered.
Kiyone couldn't believe it too. Either she just found out she can magically make comets appear on command, or that thing was just a coincidence. She weighed the differences and stuck with the second theory. The detective hopped back in her seat and got straight to work.
"Mihoshi, track that thing's coordinates down. We're gonna destroy it…"
"Aw! But Kiyone! It's Halley's Comet! You're not supposed to be destroying--"
"It's not a comet; it's going way too fast to be one."
"Oh… so it's a meteor then? Halley never had a meteor before… did she?"
Kiyone let out a sigh before steering Yagami towards the path the object was going. She pressed hard on the acceleration, wanting to get the job done fast so she could eat.
"Mihoshi, just try to find out what it is, okay? And Halley was a man, not a woman." Kiyone said calmly. Mihoshi shrugged and started pressing commands on her side of the ship. She waited a while to download captured pictures taken from set up cameras near the Saturn area.
"Huh, it's not a rock at all. I think it's a ship, Kiyone…" Mihoshi muttered, trying to zoom in on the black object.
"What do you mean 'you think'?"
Mihoshi scratched her head in confusion. "It has windows, that's for sure. But I've never seen a ship in the shape of a ball before. Actually it's more of a deflated ball. It's pretty beat up with all those weird dents in it…"
Kiyone looked over her monitor to see the picture for herself. The object in question was in the shape of a pod. Or at least, it was supposed to be. Black paint covered the whole thing, possibly for camouflaging purposes, and there a few windows that showed the inside. And Mihoshi was right; it was a total mess. But it was probably in good working condition if it was traveling that fast.
"Looks like we got a speeder then…" Kiyone concluded. The mysterious ship was almost near Jupiter so she turned on the engine boosters to catch the crazy pilot before it made it to Mars. "How's the transmission signal? Are we close enough yet?"
Mihoshi stayed silent for a moment, then nodded her head. "Yea, try it out now."
Kiyone pressed a button on the control panel, sending a radio transmission to the black ship minutes away from them. She quickly cleared her throat before turning on the built in microphone.
"This is the Galaxy Police! Pull over now or we will be forced to take immediate action!" She ordered out loud. Mihoshi locked their camera onto the ship to get a closer look and to follow it better, but it showed no signs of slowing down. Kiyone spoke again.
"This is your last warning! Slow down or we will be forced to open fire!" Kiyone said even more determinedly. Mihoshi bit at her fingernails worriedly, hoping the ship would cooperate so they could all leave peacefully. Yet still, the ship stayed constant with its fast speed.
"Mihoshi, get your cannons ready…"
The blonde looked glumly over at her controls; she didn't enjoy the shooting part of their job. Kiyone locked her crosshairs onto the incoming ship, and Mihoshi slowly followed suit.
"Ready… FIRE!"
Both officers shot at the sides of the ship, firing lasers and trying to aim at where they thought the engines were located. They found no luck finding the engines and it worried them. Kiyone took a closer look at the ship and found that their shots were ricocheting off its surface. She was taken aback.
"What the…?" She suddenly realized they were still in its path. She quickly grabbed hold of the controls and steered Yagami off to the side to get out of its way. The black ship zoomed on by and made its way past Jupiter. Kiyone let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. 'That was a close one…' She thought. She turned the ship around and flew as fast as she could, going with the idea of tailgating it.
"According to the picture, the lights were on inside. I'm gonna try to get close to it, and I want you to try and get a good picture of the pilot, alright?" Kiyone informed Mihoshi. She nodded accordingly and set up Yagami's digital camera and aimed it at the ship. Kiyone took it as a cue to speed up, and she successfully managed to fly parallel to the ship. Mihoshi did her best to capture a picture, but all of her attempts failed as she always moved at the last second before taking each shot.
"Ah nope… too high… okay now low… ack! Almost had it there…" She struggled. Kiyone let out a sigh of frustration. She couldn't control the ship and take pictures at the same time. Another idea came into mind.
"Mihoshi, grab the binoculars from the glove compartment. At least try to get a good look and note down their description." Kiyone suggested. Mihoshi stuck out her tongue at the camera before reaching under the dashboard to feel for the binoculars. She found them hiding under a couple of empty potato chip bags and candy wrappers. After wiping off the crumbs, she looked through the lenses and got a clear view of who was inside.
"Ok, we got a male figure on our hands, Kiyone." Mihoshi confirmed. "He's got a white shirt and blue pants… he has black hair… a cute face, hehehe…"
"Focus Mihoshi…" Kiyone interrupted, even though she was secretly curious. Mihoshi cleared her throat.
"Wow. He must be a really good pilot…" She said in awe.
"What makes you say that?"
"Cuz he's on the floor sleeping…"
Kiyone's eyes widened. "Is he sitting up sleeping? Or flat on the ground sleeping?"
"Um… flat on the ground sleeping…"
Kiyone's eyes grew worried again. The pilot was out cold. She instinctively pressed a button to send another radio transmission, hoping this time it would go through. She took a quick look to see how they were doing on time and found they have reached Mars. It wasn't looking good; it'd be about twenty minutes before he crashed into Earth. She spoke out loud, scaring Mihoshi out of her seat.
"Excuse me sir! Now would be a really good time for you to wake up!" She said pleadingly. Mihoshi slowly climbed back up into her spot when she remembered something. She quickly got up ran out of the cockpit, leaving Kiyone to try and wake up the unconscious pilot.
"Sir! Please wake up! We need you to slow down your ship!"
Kiyone grabbed the binoculars and took a quick look inside the black ship. The man was still lying on the floor unconscious. Her eyes quickly shifted from side to side, trying to think of her next move. She thought of one idea…
"Sorry Yagami…" Kiyone muttered.
She increased her speed a little bit and took a quick look to her right side. Good, they were perfectly aligned. She suddenly swerved to the side and bumped Yagami into the black ship. She could hear the loud clash of the metal, and it didn't sound healthy at all. What's more, it didn't budge a lot, like what would happen with other ships, but she was sure she shook him enough. She looked through the binoculars again, and saw the man's arms and head moving. Yes! Now they were getting somewhere…
"Sir! Can you hear me? We need you to get up now and regain control of the ship!" She said out loud to him. She looked again, and saw that he was having a very difficult time getting up, with the way he kept collapsing every time he rose his upper body off the floor.
"C'mon…" Kiyone whispered, and looked up front to see how she was doing on time. She could see the familiar blue dot of a planet fifteen or so minutes away. Mihoshi rushed back in excitedly. Kiyone was about to ask where she was, but then the blonde pulled out an air horn from behind her back and pressed down on the red horn.
"WAAAAKKKKKEEEEE UPPPPPP!!!!" Mihoshi yelled, her booming voice going as loud as the ear splitting wailing that was coming from the tiny can. Kiyone jumped up and immediately covered her ears from blowing out. She grabbed the horn from Mihoshi's hand and chugged it right at her head, where it bounced off cleanly and landed on the floor.
"IDIOT! Don't point that thing at my head! Where did you get that anyway?!" Kiyone growled. Mihoshi took in a sharp intake of breath and tried to rub the growing pain in her forehead away.
"Ouchies… I found it when I was in Ryoko's room. She told me she was going to use it to wake up Ayeka the next morning, and I thought it wasn't very nice, so I took it!" Mihoshi explained.
Kiyone was about to clobber her in the head for invading someone's room, but stopped when a new voice fell over the speakers and caught both of their attentions.
"Stop… too loud… ugh…" A deep and tired voice said. Kiyone and Mihoshi looked at each other for a moment and quickly looked outside the window. It was far, but they could still see the man was still on the floor, doing his best to crawl to his controls. The two officers quickly got back in their designated seats, with Kiyone back on steering and microphone, and Mihoshi watching the action.
"Sir, are you okay? The ship is going way too fast, and we need you to slow it down before you crash land into Earth." Kiyone directed. She waited for a few seconds, before the man responded.
"…Earth? Ugh…" The two looked outside again, and found he had propped himself up on a chair and was slouching in front of the controls. They could faintly hear the sound of typing in the background, before he spoke again. "The controls… aren't responding… the engines… have been dead… for a while…"
Mihoshi gulped in horror while Kiyone looked down at the floor to search for her next plan. They had about ten minutes left, and he was unable to decrease his speed. Crap! What to do?! Moments of silence and the man spoke up again.
"…hey… make sure… I hit the water…" The man quietly gasped out. "At least then… I won't hit anyone…"
Kiyone's eyes looked up at the black ship, taking a moment to consider the man's idea. She turned her head to her partner.
"Mihoshi, contact Washu! See if she still has that high density magnet and tell her to place it in the middle of the lake. Hopefully Tenchi won't mind if we use his lake…" Kiyone said. Mihoshi nodded and went right on to calling the greatest scientific genius. Kiyone looked at the black ship.
"Sir, is there anyone else aboard?"
"No… just me…"
"Ok, we're gonna take your plan into action, so just stay put and--"
She heard a loud thud in the speakers and the screeching of the chair rubbing against the floor. She looked up at the window and saw that he was down on the floor again, unmoving. Mihoshi looked up from the phone briefly before getting a confirmation from Washu.
"…yea, she said put it in the middle of the lake… well, I don't know what she's going to do with it, it's her plan!"
Kiyone stuck her hand out, silently asking for the phone, and Mihoshi handed it over hesitantly. Talking on the phone while driving a vehicle is a big no no! But this was an emergency, so she let it go. Kiyone tucked the phone underneath her cheek and shoulder.
"Washu, there's a speeding ship here with an unconscious pilot, so we need to make sure it lands in the lake." She said. "Use the magnet to pull the ship to your direction, then switch the forces so that the rejecting force can oppose and slow down the ship. We're gonna land in ten minutes so get ready."
She hung up after hearing the 'okay' from Washu and tossed the phone back to Mihoshi. She sighed and looked over up front. There was Earth, in full view, ready to get hit. She looked to her right pulled back on her speed when she saw the black ship begin to swerve slowly to the left and line up in front of them.
"Hey Kiyone, did he die?" Mihoshi asked innocently, referring to the thud she heard a while ago. Kiyone ran her hand down her face in frustration and looked at her.
"I don't know Mihoshi, we'll just have to see we make it to Earth…" She murmured tiredly. She activated the auto-pilot sequence and set the options to make sure it parked over the lake. She leaned back in her seat and momentarily closed her eyes. Mihoshi looked up and placed a finger to her lip.
"Oh… then I wonder if dead people can swim…"
Kiyone opened one of her eyes in realization. She cursed for having such an extreme job such as this. She got up from her seat, and slowly removed her uniform jacket, revealing a tight navy blue shirt underneath, and placed it in her seat. Grabbing a nearby hair tie, she tied her long blue hair up and let the pony tail drop down behind her. She clipped her gun and yo-yo to her belt as Mihoshi looked up at her questioningly.
"Watch my stuff, and don't touch the noodles…" Kiyone said calmly before walking out and exiting the cockpit. The blonde watched after her curiously. She took a quick glance at the half opened noodles, and shrugged.
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"Sheesh, don't they know I need sleep too? Wake me up in the middle of the night like that…" Washu mumbled under her breath as she waited outside Tenchi's two story house, in her green nightgown and cabbit slippers. Her light-black see through laptop popped into the air and she began typing away the settings for the magnet she strategically placed into the lake. It was a giant hockey puck of a thing and she was more than glad she used her sliding door portal to get it in the water. Otherwise she would've had to bother a certain space pirate, who despised being woken up, to carry the heavy thing out.
She switched on the magnet. The whole area began to shake gently, feeling like a small earthquake underneath her feet. The lake let out a quiet purr; it was the magnet signifying its working order underneath. The small woman looked up at the clear night sky, and saw the bright red of Yagami making its entrance through the atmosphere, with the black ship they were talking about flying right under them.
She kept her attention on the ship and waited patiently for the right moment to switch forces. Too caught up in what was going on, she failed to notice that the rest of her housemates have ran outside, all garbed in their sleeping wear and wondering what she was up to.
"Washu! What's going on?!" Tenchi asked. Ryoko came up behind him and added in.
"If this is another one of your crazy experiments, you've got a lot of nerve trying to--"
"SHUSH!!" Washu turned to silence them. "I need to concentrate… please…"
Her head turned back to looking at the sky, and everyone followed her line of vision, curious to see what she was looking at. They all saw Yagami coming in, but that thing that was falling…
"Washu… just what is that…?" Ayeka asked nervously, getting the sudden feeling she should probably move away from the lake. Washu didn't answer her, and kept watching the black ship. Her eyes furrowed in thought.
'It's going way too fast… If I switch too soon, the force will send it back to space… but if I switch too late, the ship won't have time to slow down enough before it hits…' She debated.
It was closing in on them, the shadow above the lake grew bigger and bigger as it fell closer and closer. Everyone stood nervously by the shore, waiting for it to come down on them. Washu held her finger steady above the button.
'Almost…'
They could hear the distant whistling get increasingly louder and Yagami's slow mumbling get even lower as it descended. The red ship covered the sky, and everyone was able to get a better look at the black ship. Ayeka pulled Sasami to her side, holding on to her to protect her from whatever was going to come. Ryo-oki jumped up into the girl's arms and huddled in against her for safety. The scientist quietly waited it out patiently just a few seconds, then…
'NOW!'
She quickly activated the switch, and the magnet began to murmur even more in the water, as the opposing force took over and tried to reject the black ship coming its way. The ship's speed began to slow down quickly as expected, letting Washu relax just a little bit.
"Excellent! Now all I have to do is turn it off before it shoots back up and it should drop safely in the lake…" Washu said aloud.
The ship slowed down drastically as it fell. Everyone was relieved there wasn't going to be a cannon ball. No one was in the mood for a cold shower while they were still outside at night. It made it a quarter of a mile before reaching the lake and it began to float momentarily. Washu pressed the "Off" button on her laptop, which caused the shaking and deep murmuring of the magnet to stop. The ship dropped into the water with a huge splash, creating a tidal wave for a ripple that wasn't too big for anyone to worry about. It starting sinking quickly, due to how heavy the metal was, but no one paid mind to it as Yagami slowly came in a few seconds later. The black ship was completely under water, and still sinking, by the time the red ship parked to a full stop just feet away from the lake's surface.
Everyone cheered at Washu's success. They assumed that she just stopped a meteor from crashing landing into their home and clapped for joy.
"Good job Washu!"
"Yes indeed; spectacular performance!"
Washu turned around and grinned widely. She made a peace sign with her hand and laughed maniacally.
"Bwahahaha! Yep! I did it! Me!" She laughed off. Sasami stepped forward and smiled at her.
"Wow Washu, did Mihoshi and Kiyone tell you about the meteor?" She asked. Washu giggled a few seconds later then stopped and looked at the young girl oddly.
"Meteor…?" She asked. Then her eyes widened. She jumped back in realization. "OH NO!!!"
"Oh my goodness! Kiyone!" Ayeka shouted, pointing at where Yagami was. Everyone looked up at what she was pointing to and gasped. The blue haired officer had suddenly jumped out of the side of her ship and dived right into the water. Tenchi panicked.
"Ah, Washu! What's she doing?!" He yelled. Washu shook out of what trance she was in and held her head in fear. She pointed at the lake where the ship sunk and looked at him.
"That thing wasn't a meteor, it was a ship! And I totally forgot there was a guy in there! AND HE'S UNCONSCIOUS!!!" She wailed and turned back to the lake. "Kiyone must've jumped in to save him!"
"Ack! Oh no!"
"She's going to freeze to death if she stays there too long!"
Washu ruffled her hair. "Gah! Tenchi! Ryoko! Get in there and help her out!" Washu barked. The two nodded without hesitation. Ryoko took a hold of Tenchi's arms and flew the both of them of the spot to where Kiyone dove in.
"Ok, the two of you, can you get some towels?" Washu turned around to face Ayeka and Sasami. "Those guys are gonna need 'em and—GAH!!"
Mihoshi mysteriously appeared right behind the Juraian sisters, making all of them jump up at once. She looked at them innocently, slurping up the noodles from the bowl in her hands. She licked her lips.
"Oh my, I hope they come back okay…"
Washu whacked the bowl out of her hands, infuriated. "WHY AREN'T YOU OUT THERE HELPING KIYONE?!?!"
Mihoshi cringed, more at the hot soup spilling all over her than at Washu's yelling. She pulled a stray noodle out of her hair.
"Well… I can't swim… and Kiyone told me to watch her stuff…"
"And you couldn't do that either?!?" Ayeka jumped in. Mihoshi shook her head.
"No, look…" She took off the uniform shirt she was wearing and held it up for all to see. It was soaked and smelled of ramen, and had bits of garlic and noodles were stuck on it. "This is Kiyone's; I wore it so I can watch it better! Isn't that smart?"
The three face faulted.
"Oh Mihoshi…" Sasami sighed.
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Yea, okay, weird place to stop, I know, but trust me, if I continued with my original plan, this chapter would've been TWICE as long. And I really don't wanna double check 20+ pages for errors, so I had to put a break somewhere! (dodges stuff thrown at her)
I'm gonna put the third chapter up as soon as I can, I swear!
Please review! I'll be a happy camper if you do!
-signoRINA