Season 1: Return of the Akuneko Episode 4: No Need for a Battle Masaki Residence A furious Ryoko teleported into the living room of the Masaki house and immediately rushed into the bathroom. "I think they found Ryoko," Sasami noted. Shortly behind this Kiyone and Mihoshi came in through the front door. "Hey!" Nobuyuki yelled, he had finally gotten home. "Doesn't anyone knock anymore?" "What is going on here?" Ayeka demanded. "This is the second time tonight that you've come barging in here. Why I've never been so insulted in my life." "He's already here isn't he," Tenchi concluded, resignedly. Next to him Washu nodded in agreement. "Yes and since he couldn't beat us, he's going…*" Kiyone clamped her hand over Mihoshi's mouth. "There's someone else on this planet that he wants to kill," Kiyone explained. "We're going to try and stop him." Yosho sauntered in through the open door, but as usual no one noticed until he said something. "Tenchi you should go with them," Yosho instructed. "I saw the tail end of the battle, they'll need the help." Tenchi nodded, he had already been planning to, he was up to his room and back with the sword-Tenchi in almost a blink. "If Lord Tenchi is going than I will go to," Ayeka declared. She stomped off to the bathroom, grumbling. "And I shall also battle this fiend with you," Mihoshi said dramatically. Kiyone winced. "Uh, Mihoshi," she started. "I was actually kind of hoping that you would guard the house in case he came back." "Oh, you know, you're right," Mihoshi gasped. "I'll stay here and guard the house." Kiyone breathed a sigh of relief. Yosho was amused, he caught Kiyone's eyes and she shrugged, to which he just waved a "don't worry." Ayeka and Ryoko burst out of the bathroom, both in full battle gear. "You know that I'm not doing this to help you, Ryoko," Ayeka sniped. "I am here to safe guard Lord Tenchi." "Tenchi, if I might make a slight change." "What is it Washu, we shouldn't take too long." There was a flash of light and suddenly Tenchi was in battle gear as well. The two women who geared up the old fashioned way glared at her. "You didn't ask," Washu shrugged. "Let's go, let's go!" Ryoko snapped. Tenchi, Kiyone, and Ayeka followed closely behind the rushing Ryoko. Outside they all piled into what appeared to be a hovering sport utility vehicle. Kiyone stepped into the driver's seat, of course. "Yagami," the vehicles onboard computer linked up with the Yagami's computer orbiting Earth. "Plot me a course to Rikyu Shirai's dwelling." A head's up display appeared with a line heading out into town. Kiyone sent the thing moving, accelerating up to two hundred in a matter of seconds. The House of Rikyu Shirai The scanner showed the ship moving again, through the high clouds and Rikyu watched it. It didn't move very far this time. Then a beam burst from the ship and Rikyu heard the sound of an explosion not all that far away. Then the radio began blaring static until a voice began speaking in space common. "I seek Rikyu Shinku," the voice declared. "Either he shows himself, or you all will pay." Another explosion sounded. Rikyu had dropped the scanner so he didn't see the hologram ship fire, but he didn't need to. "Well," he said to himself. "I've never run from a fight before." He teleported away and reappeared floating above his house. His normally hidden tail waved angrily behind him as he used one of his relics to respond to the challenge. "Alright! Come and get me, asshole!" "As you wish." Rikyu whirled to see a man with the same sort of spiky hair as his, only this man had black hair. The red and black suit the man was wearing didn't have any of the silver tracings, but it was undoubtedly the same material as Rikyu's own bracers. The thought of an entire power-enhancing suit made his blood run cold. The man was laughing at him, floating around him in circles. "I don't see what chance you have, boy. Your nobility is tainted with peasant blood, you have absolutely no training and I doubt you've even been as far off this planet as that fuel station past the asteroid belt." "Are you going to talk or fight?" "Yes, there is a definite family resemblance." The man smiled. Each of the pair summoned an energy blade and the battle began. Kiyone's Hover Cruiser "What exactly did you do to these people, Ryoko," Ayeka demanded. Ryoko glanced in her direction before returning to watch their progress. "Every time they show up it's always talk about this clan and that clan, I don't know what they're talking about." "Every time?" Kiyone repeated. "How many of them have tried to kill you." "Six, counting this guy and Renshi." They saw the first beam strike a building a few miles away, then Kiyone's radio, which had been playing some American music station, broadcast Rei's challenge. Another building exploded, this time almost on top of them, and Kiyone had to enter some actual flight to avoid the debris. Then the radio played Rikyu's answer. "Damn it, Kiyone, when are we going to get there?" "We're here," The hover vehicle came to an abrupt stop in front of a small house of older design. They could see flashes of red in the quickly darkening sky above. Kiyone exited the vehicle quickly and tried to draw a bead on the assassin, but the two figures were moving too quickly for a safe shot. "Damn." Kiyone made for the roof while Ryoko shot into the air like a missile. "Your even more pathetic than your mother," Rei was laughing. He was arrogantly fighting with a single blade, but it didn't seem he needed another. He saw the approaching space pirate then and laughed. "Why, speak of the devil, that is the proper expression isn't it?" He frowned when he saw the battle suit she was wearing. "Get away from him!!" Ryoko slashed down with her own energy blade and met Rei's second blade. Rikyu glanced briefly at the second battle suit clad individual, and then returned to the battle. Tenchi and Kiyone watched the four red blurs framing the fierce faces of the three combatants. Tenchi couldn't reach them and Kiyone didn't have a clear shot. They didn't bother to turn around at the sound of Ayeka struggling to the top of the roof. "They're coming back this way!" Tenchi shouted. Indeed the three flyers soon touched down on the street below and continued their battle in a manner more traditional for the planet. Tenchi leaped off the roof, over Ayeka The princess yipped in surprise and lost her grip on the edge and fell to the ground as a blue energy blade joined the battle. The grim-faced Rei was in desperate straits now. His edge over Ryoko was that he understood his own powers better. Against Ryoko in a battle suit and another Akuneko opponent that edge gave him a fighting chance and not much more. He was also still injured and every moment of adrenaline charged battle was aggravating that cauterized hole in his side. Now a third opponent had joined the battle, a skilled Jurai warrior-prince he assumed. He was lost and he knew it. He dodged to the side trying to isolate his opponents, splitting them up between the obstacles on the ground. The sudden appearance of several, small log-like objects around him couldn't be a good thing either. Rei raised a force field as the electrical discharge passed between the logs, dropping one of his blades to do so. He teleported across the street as the three blades came in. Lasers and electricity were one thing focused energy another thing entirely. As soon as he appeared, free and clear of the other warriors he had to face a stream of laser blasts. Two caught him before he could raise another force field, and now he couldn't feel his left arm. "We'll finish this another time," he spat before teleporting away from his opponents. Kiyone managed one more salvo after his first short teleport and then he was gone. She immediately reached for GP pen and opened it. She took off her earring and lifted it to the sky. "Yagami!" the large red, custom fitted Galaxy Police cruiser pulled out of orbit and was on site in moments. "Everybody on board now!" They didn't have much choice, one moment they were in the street, the next they were in Yagami's cargo bay. "He's coming around in his ship, Ryoko can you co-pilot?" "Me?" Ryoko asked, shocked. "I've never piloted a cruiser in combat, that was always you and Mihoshi." "Don't look at me," Tenchi added. "I just barely got used to this space ship thing." "It's been awhile," Rikyu said, glancing at Ryoko. "But this is six-one type cruiser right?" "That's right, case 348502," Kiyone noted, she was already heading for the bridge. Rikyu noted the long-forgotten feel of a space craft on autopilot exiting the atmosphere. "The demon war," he corrected. Kiyone shrugged, a sort of voiceless "whatever" remark. "This has been refitted." Ryoko was almost glowing with pride as she watched the two rush down the corridor. "So Ryoko," Ayeka began in that shrill lecturing tone she reserved for her rival. "You're one of the Akuneko, that explains why you're such a reprehensible person." "Akuneko?" Ryoko repeated, disgusted. "Have you been in the saki again, the Akuneko are how I was orphaned. Besides they haven't been here since you people kicked them out." "You're the drunk, not me!" Ayeka accused. "Not now guys, we have enough problems as it is," Tenchi interrupted the growing fight. Ryoko sat down cross-legged and seemed to blank out. Masaki residence "What is it Ryo-Ohki?" Sasami asked. The cabbit had suddenly sprung to sitting straight up and pricked her ears as if listening to something. Then she rushed out of the house and leaped into the air, in the next instant a large, spiny space-craft was rocketing into the sky. "Whoa!" Mihoshi exclaimed. "That was cool." Yosho merely raised an eyebrow. "Where's Ryo-Ohki going?" Sasami asked. "Into battle I assume," Yosho answered. "I hope she's careful." Yagami low earth orbit, the cargo bay. "Ryo-Ohki is on the way," Ryoko said as soon as she came out of the trance. "Well at least you're good for something," Ayeka griped. "But then again that was all the Akuneko were capable of, wasn't it. Blowing things up all over the border territories." "Would you quit with that Akuneko stuff," Ryoko snapped. "And who is that Rikyu person?" Ayeka continued undaunted. "Another space pirate vagabond, an old boyfriend or something?" Ryo-Ohki passed the windows as Ryoko glared at Ayeka. "Figure it out yourself, princess, I'm busy." she snapped before teleporting to her own ship. Yagami the bridge "Where is he?" Kiyone asked herself. Their opponent hadn't broken the atmosphere yet, he was hiding in the planet's signature. "He knows we're up here." "He'll try to come out another hemisphere," Rikyu added. Kiyone stared at him a moment. "What's that?" Rikyu said in alarm as another ship registered on the scope. "Ryo-Ohki!" Kiyone said happily. "That's yo..uh…Ryoko's cabbit. You know a lot about space craft for someone who's lived on Earth his entire life." She silently chided herself for the lapse of control. "Well, after the demon war, your colleague's let me keep Daylak's ship," he explained. "That was a six-one, too. Used to get over to the Jupiter station fairly regularly. The Cammon finally died about twenty years ago, it's somewhere out in the pacific. You seem to know what's going on here, why'd that guy attack me." A communication screen popped up with an angry looking Ryoko. "He hasn't broken atmosphere yet?" Ryoko asked, surprised. "Not yet," Kiyone confirmed. "I'll cover the other side," Ryoko said then the screen blinked out. The spiny circle of Ryo-Ohki passed them and turned the corner around the horizon. "Who is she?" Rikyu asked. "I know her from somewhere." "You'll have to ask her that," Kiyone told him. "Not my place. As for our friend, he's Akuneko. They come from another galaxy, until now nobody knew exactly what they looked like." "He looked like me," Rikyu noted. "And he kept talking about my mother. Your friend looks like me too." "Yeah," Kiyone said. "I noticed. Anyway that guy is here to kill you and Ryoko for some reason." The Masaki Residence "Nobody go outside," Washu commanded, she was walking around and consulting numerous holographic consuls. "We have a visitor. Should be fun." "What do you mean?" Nobuyuki asked. "Is that Akuneko person here," Sasami asked. Washu opened a pair of communication screens to Yagami and Ryo-Ohki. "Kiyone, Ryoko?" Washu asked. "What is it, Washu we're busy," Ryoko said irritably. "That is why I'm calling," Washu said. "Your friend is hovering over the Masaki house right now." "What!? Hold on Washu we'll be right there!" "Kiyone, have more faith in me than that," Washu lectured. "I was in the Akuneko wars, in fact I think you'll find I was the only here who was. The only other one old enough is Lord Yosho and he was on Earth at the time." "So what are you talking to us for, blast that bastard out of the sky!" "Ryoko, this is the first time the Akuneko have ever shown us their faces. The first time in two thousand or so years that they didn't sneak over the frontier. We need to take him alive if possible, something big is happening.." "What's the plan Washu," Kiyone agreed with the evaluation. "With Lord Yosho's help I think I can force him out of the atmosphere," she explained. "Once there it is up to you two to cripple his craft and capture him." "Just get him up here, we'll do the rest," Ryoko's screen blinked out. "We'll be ready too," Kiyone answered and then she also blinked out. "And what do you want me to do?" Yosho asked curiously. "I've seen you generate some powerful energy blasts," Washu noted. "And everything in my arsenal is likely not to leave anything behind." Yosho smiled, and bounced his bokken off his shoulder. "So I am to be our weaponry, and you supply the defense," Yosho had already sensed the powerful force field surrounding them. "Let's get on with it then." "That's just if I can't stall him long enough talking," Washu added. The Akuneko fighter "Shit," Rei continued massaging his injured arm, at least he could feel it now. "That green-haired bitch keeps getting in the way." He looked below him at the innocent looking house and noted the force field surrounding it. He snarled his lip. "So much for that idea," he noted. "No way I'm getting through that thing." He was on the verge of leaving when a communication screen opened up to his right and he saw the pink-haired face of Washu. "You know, this is the first time I've seen one of you, never thought to talk to you before." the scientist said cheerfully. "I've scanned your ship, much better design than what you people brought last time. You still operate on the swarm philosophy of combat don't you." "Who are you?" Rei asked. He looked at his view screen and saw a gray haired man standing on the porch staring up into the sky. "Oh, you don't know me? And I tested so many brilliant inventions on your forces," Washu smiled cutely. "Washu?" Rei frowned. This was very bad. "Correct!" Washu shouted. "You know you have no chance against me, so why don't you just surrender now and we'll talk about this." "I don't think so, lady. I'm reading no weapons on your little cabin there, and I don't think grandpa there is going to be much help to you." Washu smiled. "That's your choice then," she turned to look off the screen and yelled. "Lord Yosho?" the communication screen blinked off. Rei watched in shock and terror as the old man smiled and ejected a blast of blue energy in wave at his ship. Rei only barely managed to avoid the attack, surprised as he was by the source. Yosho charged up again and fired, forcing the Akuneko ship to turn away from its chosen path. "He's herding me," Rei yelled. "Keeping me here, why?" After a few more exchanges the communication screen popped up with Washu's face again. "Bye bye," she waved and then shut the screen off again. Suddenly some intense force pushed his craft ever upward out of the atmosphere, where the waiting warship could find him. As soon as the craft settled again, Rei scanned for his enemy and found two blips close by. He had studied these ships in specific, and had hoped not to face them. He was lucky with Nagi, but now he couldn't count on luck. This mission was proving very aggravating. Yagami bridge "You know," Tenchi started. "It's comforting not to be on the run in a battle for once." Kiyone nodded vigorously as she piloted the ship towards where the Akuneko had suddenly appeared. Ryo-Ohki was approaching fast from the other side. "Let's try some magna missiles," Kiyone suggested. "Ryo-Ohki shouldn't have to worry, being mineral/organic. Can you handle the left hand launchers?" "Yeah, this is much nicer than my ship was," Rikyu noted. "Easier to use too." "Let's try the second spread pattern," Kiyone suggested. "Ready? Fire!" The Yagami launched a pair of missile salvos at the still disoriented Akuneko. Twelve missiles crossed the space in a breath and exploded around the Akuneko, releasing a huge electromagnetic field. The fighter remained still long enough for Ryo-Ohki to fire a beam at the aft portion of the fighter, destroying the thrusters. "Rei Kuroi," Kiyone opened a screen to the enemy's ship, it took a moment for the fighter's systems to recover enough to get through. "I am 1st class Galaxy Police detective Kiyone Makibi, prepare to be boarded and placed under arrest." "I don't have many more options do I?" Rei frowned at the detective. The mission to kill Ryoko and Rikyu was political, he had just found a personal cause. "But we'll see each other again Makibi, I can promise you that. When we have conquered this galaxy, you'll be kneeling before me before I take your head." "Who are you?" Rikyu asked. Rei sniffed at him, as if Rikyu was something less than worthy of note. "Our great enemies," he growled sarcastically. "The Shinku consist of nothing but a worthless space pirate and a half-breed youth. What a pointless assignment this was. At least your mother is a worthy warrior, you are pathetic." "My mother?" Rikyu asked. "What did he say?" Tenchi said from the back. "You're Ryoko's son?" "You see Lord Tenchi," Ayeka piped in. "You see what sort of woman she is?" "You didn't know!" Rei laughed. "Well at least I caused some disruption, come over and get me Detective. This conversation is over." The screen blinked out. "Kiyone," Ryoko appeared on another communication screen. "We're coming aboard." "Excuse me," Rikyu interrupted. Ryoko suddenly looked sick. "That guy said that you were my mother. Is that true?" Ryoko gulped and then took control of her emotions. "Yes, it is."