Chapter 6: No Need for a New Enemy
"Ha! Beat ya again!" Aya yelled, slamming down an Ace of Spades in a game of war. It was Saturday morning one month later and Aya was playing Minako in War. She was very happy because Tenchi and herself were going steady. Tenchi had agreed the night before while they were studying for a big science test.
"Yeah? We'll see about that!" Minako said, putting down her next card. She gave a sigh of depression when she saw the card was a 2 of hearts. Aya giggled as she put down her Queen of Diamonds.
They were all in Aya's apartment. Ami was studying, Usagi and Rei were fighting, and Mokato, Chibiusa, Chibi-Chibi, Haruka, and Michiru were watching the game.
Suddenly, a knock at the door was heard and Aya got up to get it. It was Tenchi.
"Oh, hi Tenchi," she said. "What's up?"
At this point, Usagi and Rei stopped fighting but were in a position in which Rei was pulling Usagi's cheek and Usagi was pulling Rei's hair, Ami looked up from her books, and the rest looked away from the game as Minako quickly gave Aya most of her cards, then looked up. Tenchi looked a little uneasy.
"I didn't mean to interrupt your gathering, but I forgot my Science book here last night. Do you know where it is?" he said.
"Oh, right. Here," She ran to her desk, picked it up, and brought it back to Tenchi. "There you go."
"Hey Tenchi don't hog the whole door," Hiroki said from behind Tenchi, shoving him aside. "Hello ladies!" he said.
"Hi!" Aya said cheerfully.
"Hey Aya," he said, "Do you wanna go with Tenchi and me to the beach today? Your friends can come too."
"Sure!" she replied. "Do you guys want to go too?"
"Okay," They all agreed. By this time Usagi and Rei had let go of what they had grabbed.
"Great! 11:00 OK?" Tenchi asked.
"Sure!" They all said. Then Aya added, "Let's get ready! Should we meet in front of me and Tenchi's apartment building?"
"Yeah, OK." Everyone agreed, and they left to get ready.
Aya put on her best swimsuit, got a towel, and took out her boogie board. She would try to bodysurf if the waves were good enough. Then she put on a green turtle neck tank top and blue board shorts and went downstairs and outside to wait. Since it was 10:50, nobody was there. But around 10:55 everyone started to come. By 11:00, everyone was there, even Mamoru, whom Usagi invited to come along, and then they met Setsuna, and the Sailor Stars, who just happened to be at the beach when they got there, so basically everyone was there.
Aya took off her tank top (knowing she had a bathing suit on underneath), and got her boogie board. The waves were huge that day, so Aya did some good body surfing. After half an hour of surfing, Aya came back to play volleyball while Chibi-Chibi used her boogie board. Then they heard on the speaker that there was going to be a beauty contest, and it would be held in one hour.
"Oh, wow!" Aya said. "This is going to be so much fun! Why don't we enter?"
"Yeah, Ok." The ladies agreed.
Then Tenchi saw her. Ryoko, yes, Ryoko, was standing in front of a slushy stand with a bathing suit on.
"Hellooooo?" Aya said, waving a hand in front of Tenchi's face. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Erm," Tenchi said, looking, feeling, and sounding puzzled. He leaned over to Hiroki and whispered, "Ryoko! She's here, she's right-" he pointed to the slushy stand but stopped talking after he noticed that Ryoko was not there.
"Where?" Hiroki asked, looking around everywhere.
Then, all of a sudden, Tenchi heard a familiar voice scream "Tenchi!". It sounded just like Ayeka. Then he saw Ayeka run towards him.
Oh crap! he thought. This is not going to turn out good, I can feel it.
Then Ayeka got close enough to throw herself at Tenchi. Making Aya VERY confused (not to mention kinda PO...).
"What the-" she shouted. "Who are you?" She felt herself get angry but cooled down when she heard the announcement that said, "Registration starts now."
"I am Princess Ayeka. I come from th-" Ayeka started to say before Tenchi covered her mouth.
"Your not supposed to say that kind of stuff around here." Tenchi murmured. Then said out loud to Aya, "This is just a workwoman at the shrine. Grandpa must've given her the day off." Then he whispered, "You see, she has a little crush on me." Aya raised an eyebrow.
"Oh hi Tenchi!" Sasami said. She had Ryo-ohki in her arms.
"Well it looks like even my little cousin is here, too!" Tenchi said. Then he bent down and said, "Tell me, are all the workwomen here?" He gave a wink and immediately Sasami caught on.
"Yes they are all here," she said.
With a suspicious look on her face, Aya bent down and said, "What a cute little rabbit!"
"MEOW!" Ryo-ohki said.
Aya gave a startled cry, and fell backwards. "What is that thing?"
"Uh.." Sasami gave a clueless look to Tenchi and he shrugged. "It's a-Oh! Look at the time! Gotta go! C'mon Ayeka. See ya Tenchi! We'll be in the beauty contest. Bye!" she dragged a struggling Ayeka away.
Just then, Usagi came up to Aya and said, "What was that all about?"
"To be honest, Usagi, I really have no clue." was Aya's response. They went to go sign up for the contest.
It was now time for the beauty contest and Aya was all ready. She had on the same bathing suit, only without her board shorts, and some blue high-heeled shoes, to match up with her bathing suit. She seemed to have a perfect tan, as well as a nice slender body, with some muscle. Everyone else participating was ready too, and the contest began.
The host ran onto the stage and said, "Hey everybody! Are we ready to see some beee-utiful ladies?"
"Yeah!" The crowd screamed. Tenchi met with Yosho and Noboyuki. He questioned them why they were here.
"The girls heard about the beauty pageant on the TV, and they wanted to go." Noboyuki said.
"And Washu said she picked up something strange on her radar." Yosho added. They then sat down. The host had already gone through quite a few girls. Then he said, "Our next contestant is a beautiful red headed woman who is in college. Please welcome Miss Aya Kushiba!"
The crowd went wild when Aya walked out. Her beautiful tan and lovely two-piece strapless blue bathing suit made her a lovely contestant.
"That's a nice one," Noboyuki said. "VERY nice, you should go out with that one."
"Dad," Tenchi said, feeling embarressed. Noboyuki had done that with every girl on stage, except the ones living at the shrine. "I already am.."
"You sly dog, you!" Noboyuki slapped him on the back, casuing him to fall forward.
"What a great contestant! And now for our next contestant, Miss Ayeka Jurai!" Ayeka walked out, wearing a purple bikini and the crowd went as wild as they did for Aya.
One by one they went through all the contestants, known to Tenchi and not, each getting a large applause (especially when Ryoko came out, because Hiroki was in the crowd.) until the host finally said, "Now we've gone through the last contestant and its time for the judges to decide on a winner. Judges, please choose your favorite contestant." The judges huddled together until one walked up and gave the host an envelope.
"And the winner is.." the host started when a large spaceship came over the beach and shadowed practically the whole beach.
"Holy crap!" Aya said, astonished.
"I have come to seek revenge on those of the house of Jurai," said a voice from inside the ship.
"Kagato! He's back!" Tenchi said.
"Just as I suspected," Washu said, appearing out nowhere (literally).
"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Tenchi asked Washu.
"No time to explain," she replied. "We've got to get onto that ship and get rid of Kagato."
Aya ran up to Tenchi. "What is that?" she asked.
"I don't know," Tenchi lied.
Then he started to float.
"I will start with you crown prince!" Kagato said.
"Crown Prince?" Aya questioned. Then she realized what was happening and jumped up to catch his foot. He was just low enough for her to jump her highest and she caught his foot. They floated up and up until they finally disappeared and reappeared inside the ship.
"Oh no!" Usagi said. "Let's go!" And they all transformed. Mercury tried to use her computer to find a way into the ship.
"This is very strange," she said. "I cannot find an entrance anywhere."
Inside, Tenchi and Aya were looking around. Since it was Aya's first time in a spaceship, she was amazed.
Suddenly, an energy ball surged at Aya and hit her, making her go flying back into the wall and knocking her unconscious.
"I do not need you," said Kagato, coming out of the shadows. Then, he raised his hand and she disappeared.
"What did you do with her?" Tenchi demanded.
"She will remain alive, I do not need her. But I must have my revenge on you, crown prince."
Outside, Washu created a time portal. Ryoko, Ayeka, and Hiroki stepped through the portal, and found themselves right next to Tenchi. Tenchi flashed his sword and prepared for battle, but Kagato stopped him.
"I do not wish to battle you here," he said. "Let us go into a more open area."
Instantly, Kagato transported them to an area, which was open. Tenchi looked around and saw Aya standing unconscious in a tube thing, her chin resting on her shoulder.
Kagato flashed his sword and Tenchi flashed his. The two battled furiously, but neither managed to win.
Aya awoke from her unconsciousness. She wasn't sure what was happening as Kagato and Tenchi's battle raged on. Both almost always barely hit each other when finally Kagato slashed Tenchi's arm. Aya screamed, "No!" as Ayeka said, "Tenchi!" She ran toward him after he fell and held him close, talking to him softly. Kagato walked toward them slowly, his sword still flashed, getting ready to kill the "House of Jurai", as he had called them. Aya could feel herself get angry, at Kagato AND Ayeka.
"Earth Star Power!" she screamed, and the tube shattered. She transformed and attacked him. She tried using her Spiral World Slash, but it merely bruised him. She tried to use her Energy Ball Explosion, but that didn't work either. She tried using all of the attacks she had, but nothing worked. Eventually Kagato got tired of her little triumph and blasted her again, only this time with powerful surgical waves. She slammed into the wall, and her crystal broke, making her back to normal.
"Oh no!" she said holding the shattered crystal in her hand. "Now what?"
Ayeka got up and stood over Tenchi. Aya realized Tenchi was looking at her and that he had a puzzled look.
Could this really be the same girl that saved me from that monster? he wondered. She seemed so strong, yet Kagato makes her look weak.
Ayeka used her Jurai power to fight Kagato. She protected herself with her shield, and used her special head garment to send Juraiin energy attacks. After a while, Kagato blasted her, too.
"None of you are worthy enough or strong enough to battle me," he said.
Tenchi growled, got up, flashed his sword, and attacked him. Aya stood up, quite wobbly, gripping her broken crystal brooch with one hand and covering the bloody wound with her other one. She watched as Tenchi struggled to fight Kagato with his one unslashed arm. When Kagato slashed him again, this time on his leg, she felt her anger grow again in her. Again Ayeka walked toward Tenchi, slowly, to comfort him, but Aya got there first. She was hurt, too, but not too hurt to let Ayeka take Tenchi away from her. She gave him a few comforting words, and he told her that he could feel his pain getting stronger by the minute. She held him close to her and then Ayeka came and gave Tenchi some of her own comforting words. Again Aya heard Tenchi say the pain was growing and growing. This made her angry. She gave a scowl at Kagato, and gritted her teeth.
Inside her tightly clenched fist, her crystal began to glow. When it glowed very bright, Aya noticed it and opened her fist in front of her. She watched it, as it slowly transformed to a crystal of a different shape. It was round with a large crystal diamond in the middle. She stood up. When the crystal completed its transformation, she lifted it up into the air and shouted, "Earth Crystal Power!" She transformed to Super Sailor Earth, and she was angry. Her new wand, a longer, more detailed one with a silver diamond at the top appeared in her hand. She shouted, "Never mess with an angry woman! Earth Diamond Planet Flash!" and it hit him. When the smoke had cleared, Kagato stood there, completely unharmed. Aya tried again, but it still didn’t work. She tried over and over and over again, but still, it did not work.
"If that didn't work, than I don't know what will!" Aya said. She collapsed to her knees, breathing hard because she used so much energy, and she got up and started to try to use her fists. She barely got any hits when Kagato hit her with yet, another blast. She fell backwards on her back, hitting her head hard and making her unconscious again.
“Nobody has more power than I!” said Kagato, cackling evilly.
Then Ryoko tried to battle Kagato, too. She threw tons of energy balls and used her own energy sword to fight him. She lasted a while, but she didn't last long enough to beat him. Kagato hit her hard, and she fell backwards.
Suddenly, Hiroki teleported to were Ryoko was lying in pain, and he talked to her softly.
"You okay?" he said.
Ryoko slowly sat up, and a painful look spread across her face.
"I'm fine," she said, trying to sound painless. "It's nothing." She tried to stand up, but she gave out a howl of pain and fell down. Hiroki was instantly on his knees at her side.
"You'll be okay," he said. He handed her a small bean. "Eat this. It's called a Senzu bean. It'll heal you." Ryoko ate it and instantly felt released from the pain. With that, Hiroki turned to face Kagato. He gave a loud battle cry. He summoned his energy sword, and attacked Kagato. It was a fierce battle, and both hit each other a few times until they landed on the ground on their feet. Both were breathing hard.
“You’re better than I thought,” Kagato said.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Hiroki replied.
“It’s a pity you weren’t there to protect Ryoko and your Mother when I kidnapped them, it would have been a pleasure to fight you then.”
Hiroki stopped, and remembered the past:
Mom sent me out to get some money from the bank. I was just returning in my spaceship when I heard on my T.V. that there was an attack at a house on the Science Academy grounds.
“The house was the on the grounds of the Science Academy,” the news reporter had said. “The attacker was identified as Kagato, a vicious space pirate and well known first class criminal. The people living in the house, a young girl and professor at the academy were kidnapped. The Galaxy Police are now on the trail of Kagato and hopefully the young girl and her mother will return to their house safely.”
I turned my ships speed to turbo and got home quickly.
"Mom!” I said. ”Ryoko?”
No answer.
“Mom? Ryoko?”
Still no response.
I was frantic. I was worried. I knew that for years I'd have to search. I did searched for a long, long time, just like I had predicted. I never found them.
Then one day, I heard that Mom was sent off in a capsule to hell knows where, I was left alone to find Ryoko for myself, as well as finding Mom on whatever planet she was sent to. I had no possible ways to track Mom, but I could follow the "Wanted" and "Last seen" posters on Ryoko.
“But now that I finally found them, I cannot let it all end!” he shouted, leaving his flashback.
Suddenly, Kagato felt his power drain.
“What’s happening?” he said. Then, two gems flew away from him and landed on Hiroki’s head. Two more appeared.
Hiroki flashed 10 Lighthawk Wings. He attacked Kagato with all his might using one Lighthawk as a shield, one as a sword, and another as armor. He slashed Kagato hard, and Kagato fell to his knees in pain.
“You are lucky.” He said. “You have beaten me with a power so immense that even I could not take. I bid you luck in future battles.” With that, he collapsed into a painful death.
Tenchi was watching he whole thing happen, and so had everyone else, except Aya, who still lay unconscious against the far wall.
“Amazing,” Tenchi had said to himself after he saw that Kagato was dead. Then to Hiroki he said, “You did it Hiroki!”
Hiroki only nodded. He stuffed his hand into a pocket and pulled out a small bean.
“Here!” he said, tossing it to Tenchi. “Eat it! It’s supposed to heal your wounds. It's called a Senzu Bean. I found it in space and word has it that they heal you.”
Tenchi ate it and instantly his pain was gone. He looked at his arm and his leg, which were slashed, and he was amazed to see that they had completely sealed up.
“Wow!” he said, getting up. “Amazing!”
Hiroki put one in Aya's mouth, and made her swallow it. Slowly, Aya’s eyes fluttered open.
“W-what happened?” she asked. “Where am I?”
“Kagato’s gone, Aya.” Tenchi said. “Thanks to Hiroki.”
“You and Ryoko, Ayeka, and Aya helped, too you know. “ Hiroki said sheepishly. “C’mon. Let’s go see if Ayeka is okay.“
They walked towards all the others and asked them if they were okay. Then Hiroki approached Ryoko. He said he had something to give to her. He took one of his own gems (of which he had four of) and put it in Ryoko’s hand.
Ryoko’s eyes showed affection. Hiroki knew it was her way of thanking him, so he nodded. She could feel her power increasing. She flung herself forward and hugged him, and then she kissed him.
They kissed for a while, until Aya turned to Tenchi and said, “Why did you let Ayeka hug you and hold you close like that?”
Tenchi could feel his heart pounding. How could he explain that to Aya?
But before he had to explain anything, Hiroki broke in, “Why don’t we get out of here, first?”
They agreed, and Washu created a dimensional tunnel back to the beach. Unfortunately, that spaceship had lured a rather large crowd of people and they stepped out right outside of the crowd.
Someone shouted, “Hey look! Aliens!” and everyone turned around and screamed and started talking.
Aya came out from behind Tenchi and said, “Hey what the heck? We’re just normal people! We want to go home, this is boring!”
Another person shouted, “But I saw you appear out of nowhere!”
“Well you must have been seeing things! You people are crazy! Come on guys, let's go home!” Aya said.
When they were back on the road and away from the huge crowd, Tenchi said, “You guys better go home, it’s getting late.” Everyone left for home. Everyone except Tenchi, who watched them leave, and Aya, who needed to talk to Tenchi. As Hiroki walked past Tenchi, he whispered, "Good luck, man."
When they were all gone, Aya turned to Tenchi and said, "Are you going to answer my question? You better tell the truth, because I can sense when people are lying."
"I will not lie to you. I'll tell you the truth, and the truth is, I don't love her, well, I do, in a way. She's like family to me," he stopped for a second, getting nervous because Aya was staring at him intently. "Aya, don't get mad at me. Two years ago, she came to my house from space, along with 5 other women. She's the Crown Princess of Jurai, along with her sister, Sasami. That little animal that Sasami was carrying around is a cabbit, a cross between a cat and a rabbit. Anyway, I don't love her in a different way from family love. She loves me, but I don't love her love her. Get it?"
There was a long pause. Aya was staring intently at Tenchi, and he could tell she was playing with his words, thinking about his voice tone, checking what was the truth inside his heart. Finally, she said, "What is Jurai, and why did Kagato call you Crown Prince?"
"Juraii is a planet in another Galaxy far from this one. I am the Crown Prince of Jurai," he replied. "I had the opportunity, to be a ruler of it, but I turned it down to be back on Earth."
There was another long silence, but this one was shorter. After it, Aya said, "You're lucky. You have the truth in your eyes, your heart, your tone, and your words. Love is in there, too. No lying, cheating jerks come from inside your heart to shatter a girl's to pieces. My other boyfriends never had that special truth and love inside, so my heart was shattered many times before." She narrowed her eyes as she thought of her previous boyfriends.
"Aya, I-" he started to say, but was stopped when Aya put a finger to his lips.
"Shh." She said. "I've a secret to tell you. Not all guys have the gift of truth and love, but of all the guys I've ever met that had that gift, you're the best. I'm no normal person, but that's okay with you, right?" Tenchi nodded, and Aya continued. "Well, it's a good thing you told me that you're a Crown Prince, because if you hadn't, I would never tell what I'm about to say. To be perfectly honest, I probably would've told you anyway, since you found out that I'm Sailor Earth, but that doesn't matter. I'm a Princess, too. I'm the Princess of the Planet Earth." Tenchi gave an astonished look to Aya, and she giggled.
"You know, when we first saw each other on the first day of school, I had this weird feeling that I had met you before. I had a jolt of mixed feelings, too. Somehow, I had to talk to you. So I talked to you at lunch, asked you out, and you agreed. Now it's steady, and we're happy. You know what? I think we were destined to meet." She took a step toward him. "You are the best boyfriend I ever had. If they were all like you, than I would have to choose between one of them and you, and break their heart when I chose you instead, because you're way cuter." Tenchi blushed. She moved he face close to his, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and then she said, "I love you." They were close enough to kiss. She looked deeply into his eyes, and then she closed her eyes, which were now glittering with affection and love, and he closed his, and they kissed a long, passionate kiss in the sunset.
During all this, Hiroki hovered above them. "I knew they'd make up. Whether it was today, or next week, I knew they would." Then he disappeared and reappeared in the Masaki house, right next to Ryoko.
Never let this kiss end. Aya thought. I hope it lasts forever.
Unfortunately, it did end, and when it did, Aya said they better go home.
"I have to get some good sleep for tomorrow. I have all day practice," she said.
"Too bad, I was hoping you would go with me for a walk in the park," Tenchi said. "But I guess we can go tonight, it'd be way more romantic, and it's not too late."
"All right." They went to the park and did a romantic walk around it side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. When they left the park, they were reluctant, but Aya needed rest. Suddenly Tenchi had a weird feeling.
"Need a lift?" Aya asked.
Something's not right. Tenchi thought. "Huh? What? Oh! Yeah, please."
They got into Aya's car and drove home. When they reached their apartment building, they said good night and went there separate ways.
Aya got to hers first, since it was on a lower floor. She unlocked the door and went inside, only to find a message on her answering machine. It was from Usagi. She flopped on her bed and listened. It said:
Aya, its Usagi. When you guys were taken into that ship, we tried to help, but we couldn't find its entrance. So we hoped for the best and we came home and talked about it. Then we figured you'd tell us what happened if you came out. So, if you got this message, give me a call, and tell me the whole deal! Bye!
Aya gave Usagi a call and told her the whole thing. She also told her about the kiss and the romantic walk. They gossiped for a while until Aya said that she better get some rest for tomorrow. They said good-bye. Usagi gave the rest a call, and told them what happened while Aya flopped down on her bed in her apartment and touched her lips lightly with her finger. She loved being with Tenchi, and somehow she knew it was destiny. After a while of daydreaming about her and Tenchi, she went to sleep with wonderful thoughts.
Tenchi gave his friends a call too. He told Ryoko about how he thought there was still something out there. He told Hiroki too. He made sure Ryoko told everyone else about it, also. After he talked with his friends, he laid down on his bed and thought about Aya. He was glad to know her and love her, and he too turned off the lights and went to sleep with wonderful thoughts floating in his head.
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On to Chapter 7: No Need for a Tournament
