Insertion
Part 82
Voyage Through the Stars!
+++++++++++++
Nabiki Tendo stood next to a small porthole. She wasn't sure what to make of 
what was going on, she simply stared out into the endless sea of stars. "What's 
happening?" she muttered to herself quietly.
"They're pretty aren't they?" asked a quiet voice from behind her.
She turned to look at the girl standing behind her. She was younger than her 
by about two years, and had long blonde hair pulled into a pair of long 
pigtails. Without saying a word, she nodded.
"I never thought I'd be doing this again," said the girl somewhat 
wistfully.
"Again?" said Nabiki with a slight surprise showing on her face.
"Yes, I did it once, a long time ago," replied the girl as she sat down and 
sighed. "I don't remember most of it, George was with us too. I know that much. 
He was different then though. I'm not sure how I know that."
Nabiki was confused, but she didn't say anything. There were more pressing 
matters to attend too. Like why she was here for example. She hadn't asked, and 
no one else had said anything about it. She knew one thing though, they were 
after Ranma, and he had become very powerful on Earth. She had already known 
that though, which was why she had planned to try and convince the senshi to 
help her get rid of him. 
That was another thing that had bothered her, no one spoke of the meeting too 
her at all. She was just sort of there, in the background so far. It had been 
two days since they left Earth, and the Senshi kept to themselves, allowing her 
to brood. It was quite boring really.
She did notice that one of them didn't seem to stay with the group. The 
youngest one, Saturn, or Hotaru as Trunks called her. The girl was silent and 
had a somewhat stern look on her face most of the time. She had the icy mask she 
had tried her whole life to perfect down cold. It was somewhat disorienting on 
someone so young really. 
Then there were the two talking cats. Luna appeared to be the most vocal; she 
spoke with the Senshi pretty regularly. Artemis, the white one, he kept silent 
and seemed somewhat laid back. Both of the animals avoided Hotaru, which wasn't 
very easy in the cramped quarters of the starship. 
George Lucas was still hiding in the closet. He was probably the oldest one 
there, but everyone was speaking to him as if he was a child, trying to get him 
to come out. Minako mostly, although Makoto seemed somewhat interested as well. 
Usagi was the only one he allowed to enter the closet, and she had done so 
several times to get supplies out for them, food and toiletries. Nabiki was 
starting to wonder about him, he hadn't even emerged to use the bathroom.
Their jailer, or rescuer, depending on how you looked at things, was busy in 
the cockpit most of the time. He was conversing with the other ship that trailed 
just behind them. She had caught a few glimpses of him speaking to a redhead on 
a small screen in the cockpit area. He wasn't being secretive about it, but he 
did tend to get irritated when anyone came up to the front of the ship. 
Especially Usagi, he seemed fearful the girl might break something. She recalled 
him tossing the blonde out and muttering something along the lines of "Thank me, 
it's not Mihoshi," under his breath.
The statement had confused her slightly, but since the start of the voyage 
she was content to observe to figure out what was going on for herself for the 
moment. 
Usagi spoke up again looking her up and down after watching the stars sail by 
outside the window for a moment. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"What?" asked Nabiki as she glanced at the girl. She'd put a little more 
force into it than she had intended and blushed when the girl looked away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I mean, I know why we're all here, 
but none of us know you," said the girl gently.
"I'm not sure why I'm here," replied Nabiki calmly.
"Because I think we can trust her, and I can't leave her with Ranma," replied 
Trunks as he walked into the hallway and noticed them speaking.
"What?" said Nabiki as she looked at him.
"You were supposed to meet with Sailor Mercury, until now, the senshi were 
working with him. They didn't know what kind of man he was. It was a set 
up."
Usagi blushed slightly at this. "How did you..."
"I know a lot of things," said Trunks calmly. "I'm from the future. I'm 
hoping I can change what I do know."
"Was it that bad?" muttered Usagi with a slightly uncomfortable frown.
"It was worse than you think," replied Trunks quietly. "Even if we fail, 
maybe it won't be quite as bad. I've changed things already."
Nabiki looked at him and sighed. "What do I have to do with any of this?"
"Nothing directly. You were blackmailed into servitude, and then murdered 
because you became too ambitious. However, I think that you haven't started down 
that path yet."

Nabiki turned her head away. "I'm well on my way."
"Only because of Mitsuki Tanaka," replied Trunks coolly.
Nabiki froze. "What? What would you know about..."
"Everything," replied the boy with a sort of icy calm about him. "I know 
about the blackmail. I know a lot of things Nabiki; not all of them are 
pleasant. You don't want to know what became of Akane. She came out on top in 
the end, but what she will face in the future if he has his way, is nothing 
compared to what happened to you."
"Akane?" muttered Nabiki in horror. "What happens to Akane?"
"I'm not sure I should tell you," replied the boy calmly. "It hasn't happened 
yet. So for now, it doesn't matter."
Luna walked up to them and sat down in the middle of the group. "We shouldn't 
trust you."
"You've got no choice now," he replied simply. 
Usagi frowned at the moon cat, but said nothing. 
Nabiki simply stared out into the stars for a moment. "Why me? Why not 
Akane?"
"I couldn't get to her, I'd like to have her here, but he was expecting me to 
save her I think."
"Why?" asked Nabiki as she narrowed her eyes at him.
The boy said nothing and turned away from them. "I can't say just yet, you'll 
figure it out when this is over."
"He's hiding something," said Luna.
Usagi looked down at her and nodded. "What is it though?"
"Maybe I can get some answers, if he'll let me," said the cat as she walked 
after him.
Nabiki frowned and said nothing as she was left alone again. She was starting 
to think George had the right idea by hiding in that closet.
++++++++++++++
"I've almost finished, but you won't be able to use it until we get to 
Jurai," said Washuu as she looked at Trunks and smirked. 
"Well, I appreciate it Washuu. I only hope it's enough," replied the boy with 
a slightly frustrated frown.
"It isn't an easy project," said the woman with a small shrug. 
"Just the same," he said as he nodded at her.
"Well, I've got to get back to work, I'm just glad I've got something to do," 
she replied as she cut off the transmission.
Trunks snorted and turned to find Luna sitting there staring at him. 
"Yes?"
"I want to see this future of yours," she said calmly.
"Do you?" he replied with a slight smirk. 
"Yes," she answered with the same calm. "I have a way."
Trunks frowned slightly as he gauged her for a moment. "I think I know what 
you're talking about. Will you show the others?"
"If I think they need to see it, yes," replied the animal calmly.
"Mindscan is it?" he asked her as he shifted in his chair and looked out at 
the stars again.
"That's right," she replied with a slightly surprised frown.
"I know the senshi in the future," he replied to her unasked question. 
"You're not going to like this. I'll show you what I think you need to see if 
you really want it though."
Luna nodded. "We can do this now if you'd like."
"Let's just get this over with," replied the boy as he chuckled slightly.
++++++++++++++++
Hotaru was staring at the girls on the opposite side of the room. She 
appeared to be staring as she sat in a small chair opposite the table where the 
girls were playing cards. To them it looked like she was glaring. The truth of 
the matter was, she was damned uncomfortable. 
She wasn't sure what to make of what had happened to her, but she had a 
pretty good idea about what had happened. Whatever the fusion thing her master 
had done to her was, it had changed her. 
Saturn was in control; she had been since the incident at her home. Mistress 
Nine was surprisingly quiet, and Hotaru hadn�t said a word. It was too 
quiet.
"Hotaru," prodded Saturn, and received no answer. "Damn."
"She will not speak," replied Nine coolly. It sounded somewhat indifferent, 
but there was something else there as well. Saturn wasn't sure if it was 
amusement, or if she was actually feeling something for the girl.
"We're not as strong without her," said Saturn calmly. "We need her."
"I know," said Nine with the same calm. 
Saturn felt a frown forming on her face. "So that's what's bothering 
you."
"What of it?" snapped Nine irritably.
"Neither of us is fit to comfort her, she lost her father," said Saturn with 
a small sigh. "I wish I could..."
"Wishes do nothing for us now," snapped Nine irritably. 
"You're not helping the situation," replied Saturn coolly. "I only hope she 
is strong enough to pull through this. There is little else we can do."
"What of the one you call Master? He doesn't even seem to notice this 
problem," snorted Nine.
"And you are too cruel to care, I am jaded by death, she is an innocent."
"Innocence disgusts me," replied Nine with a disdainful snort.
"Her state does nothing to help you Nine," said Saturn.
"On the contrary, now I only have you in the way to my domination," snarled 
the evil voice coldly. "I hope she rots away in the back of her own mind. You'll 
join her soon enough."
"I think not, I'll destroy all of us first," replied Saturn. There wasn't any 
anger of malice in the statement; it was simply a fact.
"Even you cannot be on guard all the time," replied Nine coldly.
They looked up to find Usagi peering at them curiously. "Are you all 
right?"
Hotaru looked at her for a moment and frowned. "No. I'm sitting on my 
tail."
Usagi blinked at this and was simply confused. "Huh?"
"It's very uncomfortable, I suppose I'll have to get used to it though."
"Tail?" said Usagi as she blinked again.
"Yes, I have a tail," said Saturn with a slightly irritated frown.
"Ranma has a tail," said the girl as she thought about it. She was still 
leaning towards Hotaru with her face almost touching hers. 
"I am aware of that," replied Hotaru with a small sigh. She wasn't exactly 
sure when she first noticed it really. It was just sort of there. Most likely a 
by-product of the fusion dance they had performed.
"That's...weird," said Usagi. "I think something else is bothering you 
though."
Saturn's eyes narrowed, but she noticed something else. They were growing 
wet; she could feel the tears forming in her eyes.
"Are you all right? Do you want to talk about it?" said Usagi with a very 
worried looking frown. "Sometimes that helps."
Nine and Saturn were both taken by surprise as they burst into tears and 
grabbed Usagi by the neck firmly. "DADDDYYYY!"
Usagi looked shocked, but quickly knelt down and held the girl as she cried. 
"Shhhhh. It's all right." She gently pat her back. It was easy to tell that she 
wasn't sure what was wrong still, but she had enough sense to remain quiet while 
the girl bawled on her shoulder. The other senshi were all staring at her, and 
she found she didn't care at all.
+++++++++++
"What's going on?" asked Makoto as she stood up and started towards the scene 
in front of them.
Ami stood up with her and gasped. "I'm not sure. The poor girl!"
Minako frowned at the scene with as much worry as the other. "Maybe she's 
homesick?"
Rei stepped between them and went over by Usagi and touched Hotaru on her 
back gently. "This is much more than that."
The girls seemed to understand all at once and tried their best to comfort 
the girl.
The closet door opened slightly and George peered out into the cabin for a 
moment. Rei turned to look at him for a second and it quickly shut. With a 
disgusted sigh she turned away and went back to the girl crying in Usagi's 
arms.
It was then that Luna emerged from the cabin. If she could have paled, she 
would have been completely white. Quietly she sat down to look at the senshi and 
simply stared. 
Ami was the first to notice this. "Luna, is something wrong?"
Hotaru had drifted off to sleep in Usagi's arms at this point and sniffled 
quietly in her sleep. "Luna?"
The cat stared up at them. Images of Usagi with her eyes gone, the senshi's 
daughters' slaughter at the hands of a huge dragon like monster, and the evil 
beings that Chibi-Usa and Ranma Saotome became. Akane Tendo and her story of 
rape and servitude to a lunatic in a mask, the man's eventual murder at her 
hands. The destroyed cities. He hadn't given her the complete story, but picked 
the best memories to get his point across. Luna was thankful for that.
She stood up again and stared at them all. "Whatever he says to you, whatever 
he asks you to do. Listen, do it. Don't question, just do it." She walked away 
shakily and curled up under the table. She was very disturbed and it showed. Her 
hair was standing on end and her ears were pressed back against her head. 
Artemis jumped down next to her and poked his nose towards her cautiously. 
"Are you all right?"
"Just...leave me alone," said Luna quietly.
Artemis backed away slowly, giving somewhat hurt glances at her as he 
left.
++++++++++++++
Tenchi Masaki was bored. It was a pretty common feeling on the voyage so far. 
They simply stared out at the stars for the most part, Ryoko tried to keep him 
interested as usual, but even she was somewhat subdued. Ayeka was oddly silent; 
she appeared to be pensive. Sasami spent most of her time with Ryo Ohki's 
control crystals playing games, and his grandfather spent most of the day 
meditating. He had joined the old man for a time, but it quickly grew old.
He was worried, about many things. There was a new evil on Earth, and this 
was his first trip to the Juraian homeworld. 
"Tenchi," said his grandfather as he opened his eyes and looked at the boy 
from where he was sitting nearby. 
"Yes?" he asked in a somewhat distracted manner.
"You are worried?"
"Yes," he replied simply. "He didn't seem like that bad of a guy."
"Hmmm, he is a very cunning adversary. I wouldn't worry too much, I doubt if 
you'll have to face him personally," replied Yosho calmly.
Tenchi frowned at this; it was pretty likely in his mind that he'd end up 
fighting him after everyone else got beaten. It always happened that way to him 
it seemed. He sighed and shook his head in slight disgust. "I hope you're 
right."
"I am more concerned with Jurai, the Emperor is cunning, he is a very shrewd 
man. You should be prepared to meet him again. Come and meditate with me, we 
must be ready to face anything once we reach Jurai."
Tenchi sighed and took one last glance out at the sea of stars. With a sort 
of resigned shrug he walked over and sat next to his grandfather.
++++++++++++
Nearby, Ryoko was standing at the controls of the ship with Ayeka. "Something 
about that kid bothers me," she blurted out suddenly. 
"I beg your pardon?" muttered Ayeka in confusion. She blinked and looked at 
Ryoko for a second. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him to 
me."
"You would overlook it. He just doesn't seem right for a kid his age," 
replied Ryoko as she snorted at the princess.
"Well, he is a bit crude..." muttered Ayeka under her breath.
"No. That's not it, there's something else," said Ryoko as she grit her 
teeth. "He reminds me of Washuu a little."
Ayeka couldn't see the connection in that, Washuu was in her lab at the 
moment, but she had seen the pair talking when the redhead emerged from her 
personal space. "Well, they do get along well."
"Too well, it's almost as if she knows him from somewhere," muttered Ryoko 
uncomfortably.
"Who knows?" said Ayeka with a small shrug. She brushed it off and turned 
away.
"What's this Trunks up too?" grumbled Ryoko to herself.
++++++++++++++
Trunks smirked as he walked into the back and sat down at the table with the 
Senshi. "What's up?" He was cheerful and grinned at them all. 
The girls were somewhat unnerved by this, it wasn't a very nice looking 
smile. 
"What do you want?" snapped Rei.
"Nothing, I'm just plotting," he said cheerfully.
"Plotting what?" asked Minako with a small frown of her own.
"It's a secret, you'll find out when we get to Jurai," said the boy 
cheerfully. "I've got Washuu working on a few things for me. It won't really 
start until we get there."
"Who is Washuu?" asked Usagi.
"That woman I've been talking too on the other ship. She's a scientist," 
replied the boy as he smirked at them all. "We've been bouncing ideas off one 
another for a while now about what to do about this mess."
"What have you figured out so far?" asked Rei with a sort of disdainful 
tone.
"Boy, you're sure irritable," grumbled Trunks as he stared at her.
"What?! You little!!" growled the girl as she stood up and glared at him.
"Stop it. I've got a headache," muttered Hotaru as she stood up from her seat 
opposite them at the table. She had stopped crying a few minutes before after 
waking up, and seemed to be in control again.
Everyone looked at her and Trunks blinked. "Hey, that's new," said the boy as 
his eyes fell to her waist.
Hotaru blushed and sat back down again after realizing that the back of her 
skirt was hiked up because her tail was wrapped around her waist. It helped a 
bit, but it was still bothering her.
Trunks walked up behind her and pushed her back onto her feet and peered at 
her for a moment.
"What do you think you're doing you little pervert!?" snapped Makoto. The 
rest of the girls got pretty much the same look on their faces. Hotaru said 
nothing and looked back at him over her shoulder with a small frown. 
He ignored them and looked up at Hotaru. "You need to cut a hole in your 
shorts for your tail. That's why it's been bothering you." He promptly dropped 
his pants and turned around to show them his boxers. "See, the elastic around 
the waist is pinching it." He pulled on the back of her shorts lightly to show 
her and she nodded. 
The senshi were all staring at him, not sure what to say or do.

"Don't touch that you little pervert!" snapped Rei.
"What?" said Trunks dumbly as he looked at her. "What the heck are you 
talking about?"
"You can't grab a girl's shorts like that!" cried Minako.
"Oh...why?" said Trunks obliviously as he continued to stare at them.
The girls all looked at one another, none of them was quite sure what to say. 
Even Luna looked irritated with him from her position under the bench. She 
remained silent though and turned her head away.
Trunks shrugged and motioned for Hotaru to follow him. "C'mon. I think we've 
got some scissors in the closet. If not, I'm sure I can dig up a box cutter or 
something."
He opened the door and a loud scream pierced the air suddenly.
George was cowering in the corner away from him. Trunks blinked and stared at 
him for a moment. "You're still in here?"
"He hasn't come out," said Hotaru.
"Get away! Demons!" cried the man rather pathetically.
"Not even to go to the bathroom?" said Trunks in confusion.
Hotaru shook her head and shrugged. 
"George, we gotta talk about this," said Trunks as he crossed his arms and 
glared at the man.
"You've come to torture me again! The demons on this ship!"
"Demons? You loser! I've been up for three days flying this thing! It's time 
you took a turn at the controls!" snapped Trunks with a disgusted sounding 
snort. "I haven't been able to nod off for more than an hour!"
George blinked at this and stared at him. "Fly?"
"Why else would I bring a weenie like you? Jeez Hanna, you sure did turn into 
a real wuss."
"I can't fly!" cried George.
"What? Sure you can, you probably know this ship better than I do," muttered 
Ranma as he frowned at the man. "I tried to fix it up best I could, but I'm sure 
you'd have done better. Had to be careful though, there's a lot of stuff I 
didn't recognize from the repair manual."

"Of course not! I added all sorts of things to improve defense and 
efficiency!" snapped George hatefully. "Go away!"
"Really?" said Trunks. "There's some stuff Washuu did too, but I wasn't sure 
which was which."
George blinked at this and stared at him. "Washuu?"
"Yeah, you remember her, the redhead?" said Trunks cheerfully.
"The one armed demon?!" cried George fearfully.
"Naw, the other one," said the boy with a smirk on his face. "Ya know, 
her."
The man shrank behind some boxes as the boy walked over and took a pair of 
scissors off one of the shelves. He handed them to Hotaru and the girl looked at 
them for a moment before removing her shorts right there in front of them. She 
didn't seem to care either way and went about her business. 
"Washuu...I remember her now..." muttered George as he peered around the 
boxes. 
"Yeah, come on and quit being a jerk. The princess is worried about you."
"Princess?" muttered the man in confusion. "She's here too!!! On no! We'll 
die for sure this time!"
Trunks snorted. "What? You jerk, we are not! She's supposed to be with us 
this time!"
"What about the queen?" muttered the man fearfully.
"Jeez, she's only been dead for about ten-thousand years George," said Trunks 
as he rolled his eyes. 
"She...has?" muttered the man as he seemed to get a little braver.
"Well, yeah. When was the last time you heard about the Moon Kingdom?"
George stood up and blinked at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, George," said Trunks with a small sigh. 
"Okay," said the man as he looked at him and blinked.
Hotaru handed back the scissors and snorted. "I'm done now."
"Oh, great," said Trunks cheerfully as he put them back. They started walking 
towards the door and Carrot turned towards George. "You coming? I need some 
sleep, so you need to take a shift at the controls."
The man nodded slowly. He looked down at himself and his face contorted into 
disgust. "I need to change first."
+++++++++++++
Five minutes later, he came out of the closet and looked around. All of the 
girls were looking at him oddly. He snorted disdainfully and walked towards the 
cockpit. "All right, I'm here," he snorted irritably.
Trunks turned around and his eyes went wide. "What the...?"
George was standing there in his old spandex outfit from the Silver 
Millenium. He had an eye-patch over his left eye and a smirk on his face. He had 
his old blaster slung on his hip again, only it fit rather tightly and didn't 
really hang the way it was supposed to anymore. The whole effect was rather 
revolting really, a bearded man with a potbelly wearing clothes cut for an 
attractive woman in her late twenties. "What is it?"
"It's nothing. Are you feeling all right George?" said Trunks 
uncomfortably.
"I'm fine," he said a little sharply as he sat down at the controls as the 
boy jumped out of the way for him. 
++++++++++++++++
"We're coming up on Jurai," said Ryoko as her image appeared on the screen. 
"What the hell?"
"Roger that," said George as he looked at her for a moment and frowned. "What 
is it?"
"N-nothing..." said Ryoko a little dumbly as she cut off the communication 
quickly.
"So, we're here?" said Trunks as he walked up into the cockpit and smirked at 
the green jewel of a planet that hung in the stars in front of them. It steadily 
grew larger and quickly filled the screen as their speed fell a little more. The 
security checkpoints were stationed around the planet and George maneuvered them 
close to one of them for clearance.
"We have you on our screen now, please identify yourself," said a male voice 
over the Comm system.
"Mikon Taka requesting deactivation of the deflector shield," said George 
calmly.
"Mikon Taka, please transmit your registration for shield passage," said the 
voice.
"Transmission commencing," said George calmly as he flipped a few 
switches.
"Mikon Taka, what is your cargo and destination?" asked the voice.
"Escorting Prince Yosho, Lord Tenchi, and Princess Ayeka from the planet 
Earth," said Trunks before George could reply.
Ayeka's face appeared on the screen. "It's all right commander, they are with 
us."
"Y-yes Princess," replied the man a little nervously.
Trunks smirked, because of Ayeka, they could pass all sorts of checkpoints. 
Yosho might have gotten them through, but only if he'd dropped his disguise as 
well. "This is going to take less time than I thought."
"We have alerted the palace of your return, please use your docking bay," 
said the officer sharply. "Welcome home princess."
"Thank you," said Ayeka as she vanished.
"Follow her," said Trunks to George.
"Another Princess?" muttered the man fearfully.
"We're her escort, George, calm down," said Trunks as he rolled his eyes.
"Are you sure we didn't kidnap her?" said the man nervously. 
"Yes, George," replied Trunks with a sigh. 
+++++++++++
They all stepped off the ranch and stared in awe at the planet they were 
standing on. Even Trunks was impressed.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" cried Usagi out loud.
"Yes," said Ayeka with a sort of fond smile on her face.
All around them they could see giant trees. The entire surface of the planet 
was green. They were standing on an elevated platform that was made out of a 
sort of cross between metal and wood. There was a doorway behind them that led 
into the interior of a large three that loomed over all the others. It was the 
royal palace.
"Well, it's nice to speak face to face again," said Trunks as he smirked at 
Washuu.
"Yes, I've finished that project you were talking about. I hope it's what you 
wanted," she said cheerfully.
"Thank you, I'll start on that tomorrow," said Trunks cheerfully. 
"I'll need to speak with you about that," said Washuu as she nodded. "There 
are some things you need to know."
"Hmmm. How difficult will it be to gain materials here?" asked Ranma as he 
glanced at her again. "Not very. Juraians don't use these materials much, they 
have their trees. Training should be no problem either. They shouldn't be very 
expensive either, not here anyway."
"We should talk to Ayeka about that," said Trunks with a short nod.
"I don't see any reason why she wouldn't help us," said Washuu with a small 
shrug.
"Yeah, I'd thought of that," said the boy cheerfully as he smiled at her.
"Good, we're all set then, it's the best we can do," said Washuu 
cheerfully.
By this time, a group of men armed with wooden poles and wearing Juraian 
battle armor walked up to them. "Welcome home princess," said the lead man as he 
bowed to her.
"Yes, thank you. If you please, arrest that woman," said the girl as she 
pointed at Ryoko.
The men all looked up at her and then at Ryoko.
"What?" said Ryoko sharply.
"Ayeka!" cried Tenchi.
"Please Lord Tenchi, allow me to handle this," said the girl with a malicious 
smile. "She's a criminal, and now she's within our grasp. It was foolish to come 
here, she should have realized that."
"You traitorous little bitch!" snapped Ryoko angrily as she started to back 
away. The men had surrounded her and she started to power up. "Grrrr..."
"Ryoko!" snapped Trunks coldly. "Don't!"
She glared at him and paused long enough for them to put a shield around her. 
"Damn it!"
"Ayeka! Stop this!" cried Tenchi.
"I think, that you should release her right now," said a rather youthful 
sounding voice from within their group.
"What's going on?!" cried Usagi fearfully. She and the other inner senshi had 
grouped together tightly. They were ready for a fight, but hadn't transformed 
yet.
"Is it a trap?" asked Makoto.
"No," replied Hotaru calmly. She seemed undaunted by any of this. "Not for us 
at any rate, and it's about to fail."
The Jurians were all staring at Yosho, who was no longer an old man. He had a 
smirk on his face as he walked past Ayeka and frowned at her. "I thought better 
of you than this."
The girl's jaw was hanging down, shock was clear on her features. 
"Y-Yosho?"
The man nodded slowly.
"Y-you're not..."
"Jurai's power is strong in me Ayeka, one day I will look as you knew me. 
However, that time has not come yet. I did not wish for Tenchi to come here, but 
we had no choice. His life could have been extended by hundreds of years by just 
setting foot on this planet."
"What?" said the girl as she gasped in shock.
"Tsunami may have already done that too him, but there is little I can do 
about that," replied the man as he shook his head. "Ayeka, know this. When this 
is over, I will return to my home. There is nothing you, or your father can do 
to stop that."
The guards were standing around Ryoko, the field still containing her. Yosho 
walked up to her and smirked. "You're going to behave yourself."
"I always thought you were a little spry for an old man," replied Ryoko with 
a smirk of her own.
"Hmmm. Indeed," he agreed calmly. "Release her at once."
The guards did as they were instructed and backed away.
"You will not attempt this again Ayeka," said the man as he looked at the 
girl again coldly. "Is that understood? Ryoko has served her term, she is 
free."
"Yosho?" muttered the girl quietly as she started to step forward but halted 
herself.
Trunks smirked at her maliciously as he walked by. "Heh, things not going as 
planned?"
She turned her gaze towards him and frowned. "What?"
"It's nothing. I'm surprised at you princess, you should have realized that 
your brother wouldn't have allowed that, and as soon as Tenchi recovers, I'm 
sure he'll be upset with you as well. Ryoko will probably try to turn it against 
you, but she'll over do it, and he'll end up forgiving you I think."
As if on cue, Ryoko flew over to the shocked Tenchi's side. He was staring at 
his grandfather in a sort of numb awe. "Tenchi! Did you see what she tried to do 
to me! She's so mean! How can you ever trust such a conniving little brat!?"
The boy shook her off lightly as he stepped forward and stared at his 
grandfather's back. "Grandpa?"
"Eh? Oh, that's right. You didn't know did you," he replied sheepishly as he 
scratched the back of his head.
"What's going on here Grandpa?" asked Tenchi as he stepped back away from 
him.
"There is much you do not understand Tenchi, for now, simply forget about it. 
In time, answers will come on their own."
"I suppose you'll have to go speak with the Emperor?" asked Trunks as he 
stepped towards him.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," said Yosho. 
"Well, I'll stay here. I've got no interest in that. Take the Senshi with 
you, they'll need to meet him. If we win, the Moon Kingdom should return soon, 
it will be good for them to develop relationships now."
"Hmmmm," said Yosho with a slight nod. "That would seem wise."
"At any rate, Hotaru and I have things to do," said Trunks as he smirked at 
the girl. She glanced at him with a slightly surprised frown. "Come with me 
please, we've got training to do."
Hotaru followed after him without question.
Washuu smirked and went after them.
++++++++++++++
Deep space...
"How much longer?" asked Dark Ranma as he frowned at the figure hidden in the 
shadows of the small space pod. "A few more days. I will arrive at their 
defensive shield."
"Good, you know what to do when you arrive. We can't allow them to grow 
strong enough to return. The fleet will be arriving in three months."
"Understood," replied the shadowy figure with an evil looking grin forming on 
his face. "And Jurai?"
"Do what you want with it," said Dark Ranma with a smirk. "We�ll be waiting 
for your return."
"Heh, good," said the evil shadow. "This should be fun."
+++++++++++++++
"Well?" asked Trunks as he glanced at Washuu.
"It�s what you asked for, a folded space with a different time set," replied 
Washuu. "One day, one year," she replied. "It�s the most I could squeeze 
it."
"Excellent," said Trunks cheerfully.
"This is the living area," she said as showed them a diagram of the area. 
"Outside here you�ll find what�s basically a void. It has everything you�ll need 
to survive. There�s a year�s worth of food in there. Took the Juraians about an 
hour to load it all up.
Hotaru was looking at him in confusion. "Gravity is currently set at 
one-hundred times that of Earth. You can adjust it as needed," she said as she 
turned to face them. 
"Great," said Trunks as his grin widened. "Anything else I should know 
about?"
"It�ll work four times," she said calmly. "I couldn�t do more than that with 
what I had to work with. I could make it more stable, but not at the moment. It 
automatically shuts down after one year, returning you to normal space and time. 
However, we can�t contact each other during the time it�s active. You�re stuck 
there for one year once you go in."
"Right," said Trunks as he frowned at this. "No leaving early, and if we�re 
in there and something happens, tough right?"
"Basically," said Washuu as she nodded.
"Hotaru and I will go first, then I�ll take Ryoko, after that, then the 
Senshi will use it with the three of us with Nabiki as well."
"The Senshi? That girl who came with us?" said Hotaru in confusion.
"Not for the kind of training you�re thinking about, you�ll see in about two 
years. It�s best to just not worry about it at the moment."
"It�ll take a few months at least before we can get to that point," said 
Washuu. "Even then, I�m going to have to make another one of these chambers to 
accommodate."
"I know, I was just rounding," said Trunks with a small shrug.
"Another room like this will give us a little more room in a real pinch 
though," commented Trunks.
"The specifications will be different for this room, we can�t use it that way 
really."

"Oh, I get you," said Trunks cheerfully. He turned towards Hotaru and 
smirked. "Well, shall we?"
The girl nodded and stepped into the room after him as Washuu opened the door 
for them. "I�ll see you tomorrow."
"See ya next year," said Trunks.
The door closed and Washuu turned away with a smug looking grin on her face. 
"Time to get started then!"
"Miao!" said Ryo Ohki.
"Oh, back to normal are you?" said Washuu cheerfully.
"Miao!" insisted the cabbit.
"Oh, I�m sure they won�t mind," said Washuu cheerfully as she waved her hand 
at the animal.
+++++++++++++++++
Mihoshi blinked as she sat up and glanced around. "Where am I? Oh dear." She 
had been sleeping on the ground a moment ago, and was now staring at the huge 
white nothing that spread out before her. "I must be dreaming again!" she said 
cheerfully to herself. Oddly enough, the nothing dream was the one he had the 
most. It was pretty boring really. Whenever she tried to meditate, the same 
thing happened to her, she was somewhat used to it.
"What the?" said a voice from behind her.
She turned to see two people standing there staring at her. "Um, hi. Why are 
you in my dream?"
Hotaru sighed.
Trunks clutched his head in frustration. "It�s too late to leave now!" 
"What should we do with her?" asked Hotaru with a sort of disdainful 
frown.
"There�s nothing we can do short of killing her," grumbled Trunks. "We should 
ignore her."
Hotaru nodded and Mihoshi just looked confused.
Trunks silently vowed revenge against Washuu. An entire year with Mihoshi, 
she would pay dearly for this!
"What are we going to do for the next year?" asked Hotaru.
Trunks ignored Mihoshi�s random babbling as she cheerfully went on about how 
glad she was that she wasn�t alone. "We�re going to become Super Saiyans, and 
this time, we�re going to do it right."
"Right?" said Hotaru as she frowned at him.
The boy nodded and turned away from her. "It�s best we get started. We�ve got 
a lot of work to do."
++++++++++++++++
TBC�
Next Time: Attack on Jurai!

 

--- Carrotglace

--- carrotglace@mindspring.com 

--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.


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