Not What You'd Think

A short while after Nobuyuki's departure, everyone in the inter-dimensional lab heard a jubilant yell come from near the engine area. It was clear from the pitch and girlish timbre that their resident genius had finished the necessary adjustments to the Yagami.

Everyone rushed from their respective corners of the laboratory to the source of the yell. They found a triumphant Washu standing with arms akimbo, accompanied by those strange robot mini-Washu's cheering her on.

"You're a genius, Washu!"

"You have made this ship amazing, Washu!"

"No one can top you, Washu!"

As the droids continued to chatter Washu began to laugh. The laugh steadily grew in volume and mania. It was certainly the laugh of a mad scientist. Washu let her laughter subside, but still had a dazzling smile of a woman pleased with her accomplishments, happy to have been of service.

The rest of the party drew a bit closer to Washu as Tenchi asked, his eyes half closed in sheepishness, "What was so funny just now, Washu?" He had not noticed that he had addressed her wrongly until he fully opened his eyes and was startled by the extremely close proximity from which Washu scowled at him. "Do I really have to say it, again," she said with pursed lips and gleaming green eyes.

Immediately abashed, Tenchi jumped back, waving his arms in a sign of apology and surrender. "I am so sorry Little Washu, I forgot," he said as he then bowed in the traditional Japanese style. "Let me try again."

"What's going on here...little Washu?" Tenchi said with some timidity. With a strange, gleeful noise she hopped back and nodded once, emphatically, indicating that she was pleased and ready to talk.

"Alright everyone, be ready to be amazed! Now, I won't tell you all the cool features immediately because-who doesn't like a good surprise?" Washu then let loose a short, snort of a laugh.

Everyone stood there slightly shocked. Clearly, this woman was enjoying herself just a little too much. Still, it was nothing to be too concerned about, she was an ally after all. With this in mind, they waited until Washu spoke again.

"Now, I've revved up these engines. There is nothing in the GP fleet that can catch the Yagami, now. I am talking Juraian speed. Space is dangerous enough, and we are not the most desirable people in the galaxy, at the moment. Speed was the first thing we needed."

"I've also upgraded the weapons systems. I will train everyone on their use, just to be safe. The fire power of our dear Yagami is also at Juraian levels. You see, I found a way to use the same types of crystals that give Ryoko her power with GP tech. It was child's play for a genius like me!"

Another snort.

"Anyway, I also have plans for how we will live inside the ship. Normal quarters just won't do. That, however, is a surprise for when we lift off. Now, any questions, thus far?"

When no one answered, she continued, "I've upgraded the database with all the information that I have in my files. If we run into somebody, I'll likely have valuable information on them. As of now, most of the galaxy can be considered our enemies. We are all fugitives, having taken the princesses in. We must assume people are going to be hostile."

"With that in mind, I have also upgraded our shielding, mainly for speed. The GP's shield is already top of the line, so I didn't need to bother with it much."

"All in all, I think we are ready for this trip. We do need to decided how to proceed from now on."

"And that concludes my amazing presentation. Do not pretend as though you aren't impressed, I am a genius, after all." This was followed by more maniacal laughter, this time joined by the awkward laughter of her captive audience.

In truth, no one was quite sure how to think of Washu at this point, but her reputation was no lie. The engines and other systems looked completely different than they were before. In fact, Kiyone was sure that Washu even painted the Yagami. There appeared to be striped patterns near the engines.

Though a little annoyed at Washu's liberties, Kiyone decided to let it go. There were more important things to worry about at this point.

Breaking News

While the "crew" of the Yagami were boarding, another news bulletin had hit the galaxy airwaves.

The delicately groomed anchors relayed further information about the situation in Jurai and with the renegade princesses.

"-It seems that the new king of Jurai is still on the hunt for the renegades, Ayeka and Sasami Masaki Jurai. However, there has been some new information leaked that a ship in the same style as Ayeka's Ryu-Oh was spotted in a pitched battle with the Galaxy Police near a backwater planet known as Earth."

"The battle apparently resulted in both the Ryu-Oh and (as we receive more information) the GP ship known as the Yagami crashing to Earth near one of their capital cities. The state of the officers is unknown, but the King of Jurai has informed everyone that the likelihood of any injury or death of the renegade princesses is extremely low, such is the power of Jurai."

"The GP are now dispatching a rescue team towards Earth made up of 5 of their best ships. The Jurai Royals have sent one of their own ships to investigate as well. The pilots of all ships are unknown, but we are assured that these measures will result in the capture of these heinous enemies of the state. The galaxy need not worry about further carnage."

Juraian Royal Consul Chambers

Kagato was pleased to hear from his ministers that the information leaks had been making their rounds throughout the galaxy. People were so easy to fool and far too trusting of the news. You would have thought they would know by now, Kagato thought to himself. He then chuckled softly as he sent his ministers off on their other duties.

Now alone in the chamber, Kagato paced. He was awaiting further news. He had not heard from Yugi in regards to her contact with the bounty hunter, Nagi.

Nagi was the best, after all, the only of her kind to stand toe to to with Ryoko and Jurai. Her rivalry with Ryoko, in particular, was the stuff of legend. Even Kagato was impressed by the stories of their pitched space battles and, better yet, the damage they could do to a city in a hand to hand fight.

Kagato would actually prefer to have both Nagi and Ryoko in his employ, but was aware that no one had seen Ryoko for many years. She simply disappeared some time after her attack on Jurai and her battle with the Masaki Jurai.

Having being lost in thought, Kagato had not yet noticed Yugi after she had materialized. Yugi was the silent type, so she was not inclined to speak unless she had to. She was pleased when Kagato broke from his reverie after catching site of her in his peripheral vision.

"So, what news do you have..."

With a smile Yugi answered, "I have excellent news, master. Nagi has accepted our proposal. She will hunt down our "wayward" princesses and bring them to you-alive, of course."

She continued, "She seems excited at the prospect of fighting an appointment that was powerful enough to fell nearly the entire Jurai Royal family. An interesting creature, that Nagi. In any case, our plans are moving forward as we desire." With that, she slowly disappeared, leaving a coy, chesire smile behind as the last thing to fade.

Kagato closed his eyes while thinking to himself, that woman is incredibly odd. Still, she is a great and powerful ally. But, her strangeness always left Kagato a bit unnerved. He was never quite sure if her aims really lie with his own. The woman was a mystery but then-what woman wasn't enshrouded in mystique?

Yagami 2.0

Having begun their foray into the depths of space, Washu showed everyone where they would be living.

Tenchi's jaw dropped as he realized that he was looking at his house from Tokyo. The one his father designed. Many questions trundled through his mind at that moment, so he settled with the most obvious of them: "Little Washu, is that my real house?"

Washu grinned and bobbed her head in the universal sign for an affirmative answer. "Oh, yes. This is your real house. I did not just make a copy, I simply moved it into a dimensional space within the Yagami's cargo hold. This way we will have supplies we need and be able to sleep comfortably. Thankfully, the house was already big enough for all of us to stay. Your father is quite the architect."

"Thank you for that Washu."

As they all walked in, Mihoshi immediately noticed the television. Much to her chagrin, but not much to her surprise, Mihoshi became kiddie and ran towards the picture box. She looked at Washu in askance, and Washu here nodded once silently, prompting a girlish squeal from Mihoshi as she immediately plopped down on the couch and tried to find her favorite show.

That Washu truly must be the genius that she claims to be, Mihoshi thought to herself. The woman was even able to get galactic cable hooked up in the Yagami. The former quarters of the Yagami could only really be used for playing games and movies. There was no television programming. The idea was to keep the officers from whittling away too much time in front of a box and more time on their duties.

As she was flipping through the channels, Mihoshi stumbled upon a news report about the "crew" of the Yagami. Her eyes widened as the news anchors indicated that she and her partner were presumed victims of the royal turncoats. They had already informed their families of their apparent deaths.

Officially, Mihoshi knew, they were considered missing in action, but that usually was just a nice way of letting a family know that a loved one was dead. What's worse, a loved one with dead and left behind no information as to what happened.

With a sense of urgency, Mihoshi called out, "Kiyone, everyone...you better come see this."

Everyone quickly filed into the room, spurred on by Mihoshi's tone. After a quick double take, the group of renegades crowded around Mihoshi to get a better look. No one spoke and the silence was palpable.

They watched like this for around an Earth hour, until it became clear that the news was in a cycle at this point. There was no new information.

They then held a short conference around the kitchen table, laying down what the report told them and how they should feel about it.

Washu noted that it was an advantage that the news is unaware of the Masaki Jurai's claims to Earth and thus unaware of Tenchi and his grandfather. What was more, the two GP officers could move about with impunity due to their MIA status.

"The more information that we can keep to ourselves the better. We will not be followed, most likely. Also, any ships that we run into, we can have Katsuhito and Tenchi handle the communications. No one knows about them, and they are not supposed to be dead," Washu said in a serious tone.

She continued, "Hopefully, we will not have to use our equipment until we get to each destination. Speaking of which, we have yet to plot a course. Mihoshi, Kiyone and myself will take care of that. It simply will not do to head straight towards Jurai. We need more accurate information. It's obvious that they are feeding the news channels information."

The table was again quiet as everyone let that sink in. As it turns out, their impulse to leave Earth might have been in their best interest after all. The trip was still perilous, but they now knew that they had some maneuvering room.

After this short meeting, there was dinner and some boisterous activity, particularly from a rather drunk Ryoko. She had rediscovered her love of booze and was drinking to her hearts content, continually trying to get Tenchi to part take.

Predictably, the lad repeatedly reminded Ryoko that he was yet of age. After a while, he did so with exasperation, but never with heat.

Having filled their stomachs, everyone left the table. The GP officers and Washu went into Washu's lab (which she had also brought along) to chart the course and plan their moves. Most everyone else went to sleep, it had already been a trying day and, despite their advantageous, they were still fighting an up hill battle.

Meanwhile

Nobuyuki was returning from the bar and his "farewell" celebration for Tenchi. He was what one might call "bourbon drunk." This is the sort of drunk where one is really trying to keep their balance but, in a thought only obvious to the drunken mind, people keep leaning the room on you.

He sang songs, rather loudly, and stumbled back home, only to find that his house was completely gone. The entire lot was empty.

"You're kidding, right?" Nobuyuki said to no one. "They took the HOUSE!?"