This fan fiction occurs after the events of Tenchi the Movie 2: The 
Daughter of Darkness (aka "Manatsu no Eve" [Midsummer's Eve]).  It is 
also based on the OAVs and other tidbits of the Tenchi Muyo! Universes.

The Tenchi Muyo! Universes and characters are the creation and
possession of AIC and Pioneer.  I do not claim them.  But I wrote
the storyline to "The Dark Jurai".  Characters that are made up such
as Jurai Ankoku-ou are my idea.

The Dark Jurai - Chapter 11 - "To Shulai!"
by Timothy Turner
email: juraijin@email.com
http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/animekoku/index.html


Ayeka sat in dining room of the Masaki residence.  She had been
waiting for this day a long time.  Ayeka was getting married to
Tenchi!  The dress was so beautiful and Sasami was catering the
wedding.  A giant feast had been prepared and VIPs from all
around the Galactic Union and Juraian Empire.  Misaki came
in time to time to cry at the sight of her lovely daughter.
Azusa came in a time or two as well with a look of pride on
his face.  Yosho was preparing Tenchi with his groom's outfit
and Nobuyuki was cheering about how happy Tenchi would be in
the near future and beyond.  Funaho watched Yosho as he helped
Tenchi get ready.

Everyone else was outside.  Everyone got disappointed when
Mihoshi accidentally tripped into the punch bowl table and
stained Kiyone's dress; it was a pretty dress, too.

Ryoko had a bottle of sake and was drinking a little too much
of it.  Ayeka was afraid she would have Azaka and Kamidake
remove her; at least the wedding would be more peaceful and
appropriate.  Washu was typing on her transparent laptop,
trying to do a little more research before the ceremony began.
Ryo-Ohki was entertaining the guests by being cute, as always.

The Masaki house had been beautifully decorated.  It was an
all-out Juraian wedding.  The time was around noon and everyone
sat in the shade of the trees waiting for the wedding to begin.

It was all perfect...but Ayeka felt something wrong.  As if she
and Tenchi had an argument earlier.

Azusa walked in, "Ayeka!  The ceremony is starting!  It's time I
walked you down the aisle!"

Ayeka pulled herself together, "Oh!  It's time!  I'm so happy!
I can't imagine life without Tenchi!"

"Today is a nice day, indeed.  It will leave an imprint on your
mind until eternity," Azusa grinned with what seemed to be an
evil look,

A wave of terror went through Ayeka.  And what was with the word
"nice"?  Wasn't the wedding supposed to be more than that?

"What's wrong?," Azusa turned his head and looked around, "Does
something bother you?"

The princess stammered, "N-n-n-nothing.  It's that I'm nervous,"
Ayeka looked at the ground.

"Don't look so gloomy!  There are worse things in life!  This
time on your life isn't supposed to be one of them!," the emperor
whipped up a smile.

"You're right," Ayeka nodded, "Let's go!"

The two proceeded down the aisle to a waiting Tenchi.  But the aura
to everything was getting more awkward by the minute!  After a few
minutes of reading everything read at a wedding, it was time to
exchange vows.  Ayeka was asked if she took Tenchi as her lawful
wedded husband.

"I do!," Ayeka burst out.

"I DON'T!!!!," Tenchi screamed on the top of his lungs.

Everyone there got an evil, brazen look on their faces and laughed.

"What is the meaning of this!?!?!," Ayeka gasped.

"Ayeka," Tenchi tapped Ayeka.

"What!?!," Ayeka bit her teeth together.

"Ayeka.  You are a freak.  A freak who wants to do naughty things
to her relatives.  A freak who wouldn't care about children with
deformations...FROM THEIR MOTHER!!!!!!!!," the veins on Tenchi's
forehead throbbed.

"You're...LYING!!  You're not Tenchi!," tears flew from Ayeka's
eyes.

"But I am!  You should be ashamed of yourself!!  Did you really
think I wanted to marry you and have children with you!?!  You're
my blood relative!  Ayeka, people from Earth think of people like
you as a disturbed individual!," Tenchi's eyes began to turn red
as did everyone else's.

"I have an objection to this wedding!," Ryoko cheered, "Ayeka's
ugly!"

Everyone laughed.

"Quit it!  Let's just finish the wedding and let me..."

"Have Tenchi all to yourself!?!," Ryoko guffawed, "Let the princess
have it, mom!"

Washu typed on her keyboard, "Let's see if Azaka and Kamidake can
paralyze her!," Washu hit a key and shocked Ayeka, paralyzing her.

Ryoko threw the sake bottle at Ayeka and hit her in the forehead.
The former bride-to-be began to bleed heavily.

"That's a new look!," Ryoko continued to mock.

The princess' blood matted her face.  The last thing she saw before
everything went black was a laughing Ryoko hugging an also laughing
Tenchi.  Yosho laughed and talked about the arranged marriage between
him and Ayeka that was abruptly cancelled.  Ayeka thought she heard
Yosho call her a freak.

It seemed like an eternity of time had passed before the injured
Juraian princess could open her eyes again.  It was black with stars
and other celestial bodies dotting everywhere as far as the eye could
see.  A cold feeling overwhelmed Ayeka as she began to cry.  The
wedding dress...torn as well as her heart...

Ayeka screamed as loud as she could, with no one to hear her...  The
loneliness was unbearable.  Ayeka screamed as loud as she could again.
It felt like her soul left her body when she screamed that haunting
scream...  The Juraian princess collapsed...

A Dark Jurai soldier watched Ayeka (physically).  She had been in a
world of illusion.  This man that had watched her had been using
black magic to exploit and control what Ayeka had seen and made her
reach her mental limit.  It was a matter of time before she would be
fully broken.  (The man had been controlling her dreams with black
magic in the physical world, making Ayeka see the world she had
always wanted while she was unconscious.)

"This black magic is better than I thought it would be!," said the
man, turning to another one, "Who's next?"

The other soldier looked at a list, "Sasami and Yosho"

"It won't take long to break a tiny little kid.  After that, maybe
we can get access to Tsunami's power."

"That's Jurai Ankoku-ou's orders.  Attempt to bring out the power of
Tsunami and use it."

As Sasami slept, Tsunami was thinking of escape...




Back to Tenchi and friends:  Near the remains of GP Headquarters


Tenchi had a calm look on his face with his eyes closed.

"How did you get coordinates?," Washu asked.

"Grandpa spoke to me telepathically.  There was mention of a planet
called Shulai that is home to the lost branch of Jurai's Royal
Family.  There's a subspace beacon able to transport ships at
the coordinates I was given."

"So, we have a way of finding the legendary lost branch after all,"
Washu nodded, "Give me the coordinates."

"Right," Tenchi said, "They are: X29B28-C42997."

Everyone gasped.

"What?," Tenchi looked at all the communications screens.

"That is a dangerous part of the Milky Way," Washu shook her head.

"Why is that?," Tenchi asked.

"There are really powerful automated defense turrets there.  They are
what remain of an old civilization that perished over 40,000 years
ago.  No one has returned alive from that place.  And theory and
evidence suggest that they had become so technologically advanced
that they completely consumed all their natural resources.  And it
also suggests that the defense turrets they built in close proximity
to the planets there were able to destroy the surface from orbit,"
Washu enlightened Tenchi.

"That's what grandpa said."

"It's obvious he didn't warn you of the dangers there.  Not even the
Dark Jurai would touch that part of the galaxy.  Even their magic
isn't able to withstand the power of those turrets."

"I don't think so," Mitsuki smiled as she listened.

"But that's the only place we can get to Shulai from!  The long way
would take months or even years to get there!  Grandpa told me that
the distance is over 35 galaxies!"

Washu's mouth dropped open.  Kiyone and Mihoshi whispered to each
other over the communications screen.

Tenchi shook his head, "We have to take a risk!  By the time we get
to Shulai the old way everyone will be dead!"

"But how will we get past the defense turrets?," Kiyone asked.

"Your ship survived because it had shields, right?," Tenchi smiled,
"I bet the Marshal had the best installed, right?  No ship without
shields could have survived that explosion.  Even one with an old
shield module."

"Tenchi's right," Washu stated, "Most technological shield generators
until now could not have withstood that explosion.  What strength is
the shield generator of Yagami at now, Kiyone?"

"It read 62% a few minutes ago.  The excess power from Yagami's new
engine is replenishing lost shield strength; it's now at 67%."

"So, the rumors I heard about a new shield generator were true,"
Washu nodded, "Given the strength of that shield it would be able
to take about two or three hits before losing 100% power."

"It seems Yagami's new engine design was made to supply power to
the shields while not losing power to the drive system.  A problem
in earlier designs took power away from the drive system and made
a lot of power problems," Kiyone looked at the display panel still
in amazement.

"Do you know how far inside the defense perimeter the beacon is,
Washu?," Tenchi asked.

"No.  I didn't know of a subspace beacon powerful enough to transport
a ship until now.  Multiple beacons like I used on Funaho can't do
that for many objects because a thing like a ship is too massive and
complex to transport with multiple beacons.  If one fails, the molecular
structure of the ship is in jeopardy.  Funaho was a really big risk.
I had to make 100% certain that all the beacons were operating properly."

"So, what does that mean?," Mihoshi scratched her head.

"It means I can't transport us across such a great distance because
it's too risky to do with current technology.  And besides, I don't
even know which galaxy this beacon will take us to.  That beacon is
the only thing that will take us to the correct galaxy Shulai is
located.  It seems this beacon was made by a civilization even more
technologically advanced than I am.  Maybe I can learn something!!,"
Washu got a wide grin on her face.

"If they weren't wiped out...," Tenchi brought Washu back to reality.

"This will be interesting," Mitsuki smirked, "It seems that our little
friends will attempt to find the lost branch.  Our attempts to find
them have proven...unfruitful.  Perhaps they have learned to suppress
their ki before I was given the task to find them.  Oh, well.  I will
get rid of two missions while following them."  Mitsuki thought of a
past failed attempt to find the lost branch and planet of Jurai.  The
failure ate at her mind but she pushed it back into her thoughts.

"Hey," Tenchi came in, "Was that Jurai Ankoku-ou just a second ago?
You never gave us a description of him," Tenchi asked Ryoko.

Ryoko took a minute to reply, "Yes.  That was him."  The thought of
what Jurai Ankoku-ou had in store for every living thing disturbed
Ryoko to the core.  Washu watched Ryoko's reactions and listened to
her mind.

"Didn't he say his minions were after us?," Tenchi scratched his head.

"Oh?," Mitsuki smiled, "It looks like they want to fight the elite of
Jurai Ankoku-ou and die!  I guess they can give me some entertainment
for now.  I won't kill them yet."  Mitsuki hit a few buttons on her
hidden Galaxy Police vessel (remember, all the Dark Jurai ships had
left, Mitsuki had gotten a shield upgrade and survived the blast
as well.  Mitsuki teleported to her ship at the last second) and
summoned a nearby small portion of the Dark Juraian fleet that had
destroyed GP HQ.  Mitsuki remained hidden behind some debris.

"Let's get out of...huh?," Tenchi looked up and saw ten Dark Jurai
ships coming straight from the front.

"How did they get here so fast!?!," Mihoshi cried streams of tears,
"I don't want to die!"

"Let's see if our weapons upgrade is as good as the shield upgrade!,"
Kiyone hit a weapons button and activated Yagami's new weapons.

Mihoshi activated her weapons.  Both fired and in a few seconds a
Dark Jurai ship was vaporized.

"WHAT?!," Mitsuki's jaw dropped open, "But I intercepted the orders
before!...What's this?," Mitsuki looked at some small print and saw
the words "To be revised".  The seemingly ultimate Dark Juraian
soldier wept at her careless mistake.  "Retreat!," she yelled,
and the attacking vessels retreated, "I'll see you at the subspace
beacon."

"That was close!," Kiyone shuddered, "The Marshal went all out on
upgrading our ships."

"We have to get to that subspace beacon before they get more ships
and attack us again!," Tenchi exclaimed.

"Let's go, Ryo-Ohki!," Ryoko commanded her pet, who complied.
The others followed suit.

As they were on the way to the forbidden coordinates, Washu opened
a subspace link to Ryu-Oh and entered.

"Hi, Washu," Tenchi smiled, "Where's Ryoko?"

"She's practicing fighting techniques on board Ryo-Ohki," Washu
informed.

"I can't believe how well Ryo-Oh's sapling is handling everything.
It's been only a year since Ryu-Oh was replanted," Tenchi turned
around and looked at the small Jurai tree.

"I came here to tell you about a possible solution to getting
through the turret field.  But we need the Tenchiken in order
to access Funaho's memory banks."

"Why is...OH!  Grandpa survived maneuvering through the turret
field and Funaho probably recorded an accurate map of the field
along with a map to Shulai!," Tenchi stood up, "Let's go!"

"This way," Washu led Tenchi to the subspace door, "Ryu-Oh will
be all right."  They walked into Washu's lab and appeared right
in front of Funaho.

Tenchi took out the Tenchiken and tapped Funaho with it.  A
memory of Funaho maneuvering in the turret field appeared.  After
the replay, a 3-D map cam into view.

Washu nodded, "Interesting.  This map is perfect.  It's going to
be a tight squeeze due to the range of the turrets and how they've
been placed.  We may have to sustain a hit or two.  You can use
the Tenchiken and make Ryu-Oh summon Light Hawk Wings for defense
because Ryu-Oh doesn't have shields."

"Okay.  How long till we get there?"

"A couple of hours.  We're not too far from the field."

"How come you didn't send probes and map the field?," Tenchi was
baffled at why no one had tried that.

"Probes need power sources.  Power sources are detectable.  Those
two factors together made the probes detectable so the turrets
destroyed them."

"Oh!!!!," Tenchi smiled and scratched the back of his head, "I
could have never thought of that!"

Washu snapped Tenchi back to the task at hand, "Summon the map
to Shulai, dear."

"Oh, yeah!," Tenchi tapped Funaho once again and brought up a
map with a navigation route to Shulai.

Washu's eyes nearly bugged out, "WHAT'S THIS!?," she pointed at
a series of dots, "It's about the size of a solar system!"

"Wow!  That thing's huge!," Tenchi's jaw dropped wide open,
"Not another turret field!"

"At least Funaho didn't sustain any damage in this field.  There
are large gaps in it due to a gravitational tug of war from nearby
planets," Washu exhaled in relief as she viewed a record in the
memory log with the map, "Anyway.  There is the possibility that
the gravity has altered the turret field since Yosho last visited.
Let's make it out of here alive."

Tenchi nodded, "We will."  Tenchi then returned to Ryu-Oh.


Some time passed, and the ships arrived at the edge of the medium
sized turret field.  It encompassed half a star system; half the
size of what was in store for the Yagami, Mihoshi's ship (yet to
be named), Ryu-Oh, and Ryo-Ohki on the other side of the beacon.
Mitsuki, who had followed them, was ready to pursue them to Shulai.

"Okay," Washu came on, "We're in the same position Yosho was when
he entered the turret field.  It appears unaltered by planetary
gravity unlike the one on the other side.  It will get unpredictable
once we cross to the other side."

"Are you sure we'll make it?," Mihoshi had a little doubt in her
voice.

"This is the only way," Kiyone was nervous but confident, "Right,
Tenchi?  Washu?"

"This is the only subspace beacon I know of that can transport a
ship," Washu looked outside at the many dots in the distance that
were turrets.

"This is the only way!  TO SHULAI!," Tenchi clenched his teeth.

"TO SHULAI!," the others backed Tenchi up.

"LET'S GO!"


End of Chapter 11