This fan fiction is owned by its author (me!). The anime this story is based from are copyrighted by AIC * Pioneer LDC. In other words, I know the anime this is from isn’t mine, I’m not making any money from this story, so don’t sue me. Besides, if you did, I don’t have any money. ~~~~~~~~ Chapter 2: Meetings ~~~~~~~~ I awoke in a dark room. My head ached more that every hangover I’d ever had. Something told me I’d been there before, but since I didn’t know where I was I was clueless. The memories before were blurry, Tenchi had said he loved me, then Aeka came... but then what? After that my memories disappeared. In all the darkness, it felt like someone was watching me. I couldn’t tell who, but still... “So I see you’ve finally woken up, Ryoko. It didn’t take them long to catch you.” That voice was so familiar, but it couldn’t be her. She was at the academy... “Washu?” “Yes?” she replied back calmly. She opened her holoputer and it gave off a dim glow, revealing a short person with spiky long hair. So it was her. “Are we in your lab?” I asked. It wasn’t a stupid question, as her lab always looked different. She laughed anyway. “No, of course not! Why would I build my laboratory in a Jurian ship? Now please be quiet, I’m trying to find a way out of this place using sub-space. My plan is to actually rip a hole in sub-space and make it lead back to another planet. You understand this, don’t you?” I shook my head. I never quite got this sub-space garbage. Washu sighed. “Let me explain farther then. I plan to get us from here to another planet simply by stepping through an interstellar vortex,” she looked at me, and saw I was sitting there, still with no clue as to what she was talking about and reworded her sentence, “I’m going to create a portal.” NOW I understood her. But she was still talking. I wasn’t listening to her ramblings very well, but I could’ve sworn I’d just heard her say that we might die going through it. “What was that about dying Washu?” I asked her suspiciously. “Whatever do you mean Ryoko?” her voice was innocent sounding, but I still didn’t trust her. “There’s NO way I’m going in there to die! Isn’t there another way?” Washu apparently was surprised I’d seen through her lie. Did she think I was that stupid? It seemed so. “Well, there IS another way. You can use this portal to summon Ryo-ohki, then I can use a safer portal to transfer us aboard when she gets close enough.” “OK, let’s do that then, but I have one thing to say Washu...” “I’m listening.” “HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?! YOU CAN’T USE TELEPATHY IN THESE JURIAN PRISONS!” “With my portal you can! Let me explain...” Washu was rambling again, so instead of listening to her talk nonsense, I called Ryo-ohki. ~~~In the Masaki Household~~~ Aeka sat at the table snickering. She had finally managed to get rid of the “monster” and was enjoying her victory over a cup of tea. “Aeka,” Tenchi sighed, “did you really have to turn Ryoko in?” Aeka was startled as Tenchi said this and spilled some of her tea on the floor. A couple drops splashed the unfortunate Ryo-ohki. “Miya!” the cabbit wailed, then ran off to a nearby carrot pile. “I simply did what I should have. She was a criminal, and I turned her in,” Aeka replied, wiping her spilt tea up from the floor with a washcloth. “Yes, I know Ryoko was a criminal, I can never forget that time when I first found that out,” Tenchi smiled as he remembered the “Mihoshi’s a space-pirate, don’t believe her” scene. “But she was also a friend to all of- er, almost all of us.” Aeka was for once speechless. She stood up, gave Tenchi a quick hug, then walked over and sat in front of the television. “There’s nothing else we can do about it now, can we?” she said dryly. Something was definatly wrong with Aeka. Tenchi walked up to the princess and opened his mouth to say something when BAM! Two logs burst in the door. “Princess Aeka,” the chimed in chorus, “Another Jurian ship is landing on Earth.” “Another ship? Who could it be I simply don’t-” Aeka then realized who, “Sasami! She couldn’t possibly have come here!” The ship also landed near the lake, and Sasami soon appeared outside of it. She ran up to her sister and- Passed her, running to Tenchi and giving him a big hug. Aeka stood frozen with her eyes narrowed and her arms open. “Tenchi I’ve missed you so much! When I heard Aeka came here I followed her right away!” Tenchi whispered something into the child’s ear and she blushed, saying “sorry.” She walked over to Aeka, and gave her a hug. Aeka was about to speak when Ryo-ohki came miya-ing out the door. Sasami smiled and ran over to the cabbit, once again leaving Aeka frozen, this time with her mouth open. “Ryo-ohki! How’ve you been?” “Miya! Miya miya miyaaaa!” Sasami giggled, then suddenly stopped and turned to Tenchi. “If Ryo-ohki’s here, then where’s Ryoko?” Behind Tenchi, Aeka turned red. “Ryoko? She’s um....” “Princess Aeka arrested her.” Aeka stormed up to the guardians. They always spoke at the wrong times! She kicked them both as hard as she could, threatening that she would turn them into firewood if they didn’t stop talking. Sasami’s eyes turned big and watery. “Is this true Aeka?” she sniffed, “Is it?” Aeka bowed her head. “Yes, it is Sasami.” Sasami then broke out into tears and Aeka, Tenchi, and Ryo-ohki comforted her. She pushed Aeka away. “Let’s all go into the house, okay?” Tenchi said, trying to break Sasami’s sobs. He never knew how much Sasami actually liked me until then. They were sitting inside the house and Sasami had finally calmed down when a rumbling, like an earthquake shook the ground. In the window, it could be seen that Ryo-ohki had turned into a spaceship and was heading towards space.