Ryoko standing there. But then she vanished again. She stepped in with astounding agility and swung her sword of light energy. Yosho dodged by a hair; Funaho formed a distortion field around Ryoko and tossed her into the residential quarters. First Generation ships contained a subspace living area within. It was generally to protect against outside attacks, but this time it was the reverse. Yosho gripped his Master Key and transported there, and confronted Ryoko, waiting with her sword of light.
“Very clever.”
“We can fight to our hearts’ content here. Though I would’ve preferred to get a glimpse of Earth first!” A sword of light extended from Yosho’s Master Key as well, as the two beams crossed in a shower of sparks. Ryoko was an order of magnitude more powerful in terms of raw strength, but her skills, accustomed to crushing foes by brute force alone, were artless at best. Yosho’s techniques were honed over years, whereas Ryoko was self-taught. But even if Yosho evaded her attacks and leapt into striking range with only the power of the Master Key, Ryoko’s defenses bounced him off. Yosho ended up being on the defensive.
Yosho used his own afterimages as bait to approach from her blind spot, but the damage was accumulating bit by bit from Ryoko, who lashed out in all directions. Ryoko’s energy blasts, which were more powerful than that of a First Generation ship, though inefficient when fired in all directions, had the power to obliterate Yosho if he had been without Funaho’s backup.
“Hah! You can’t even scratch me with those attacks!!” She acted tough, but she was not able to anticipate most of Yosho’s moves and was thus forced to attack in all directions.
“It seems that way.” Three shining wings appeared in front of Yosho to reflect Ryoko’s attacks.
“Light Hawk Wings?!” Since her previous battle with Emperor Azusa was ship-to-ship, she had not considered that Light Hawk Wings could be produced by an individual. If her multidirectional attacks were not going to work, being unable to follow his moves, Ryoko had no chance. “Crap!!” She tried to escape upwards in a panic, but as the thought was forming in her mind, Yosho was already behind her. He transformed the Light Hawk Wings into a blade of light and severed the jewel in Ryoko’s right wrist. It was a feat only possible with backup from a Royal Tree and with Yosho’s expert skill.
“One down!” With that, the jewel was sealed in the hilt of the Master Key. Ryoko screamed, lost her balance, and fell. With the removal of one jewel, the other two lost control. Since Yosho was using the Light Hawk Wings, the containment field of the living quarters was weakened and unable to withstand the violent torrent of power streaming from the jewels. Fissures formed in the subspace field. “Oh no, this won’t last.”
Yosho took another jewel from Ryoko—but this restored her power balance. Ryoko withdrew but fired an energy blast from the remaining jewel with everything she had. Yosho switched the sword back to a shield but was subjected to the extra energy that could not be deflected. He held on to the Master Key until Ryoko was transported, but he could not take it anymore and went down on his knees.
The scenery around him switched to Funaho’s bridge. “I’m sorry, Funaho. I’m giving you back the Light Hawk Wings. Ryo-Ohki is coming…!!”
To prove his words, a beam flashed from Ryo-Ohki on the monitor. Because he had taken two jewels from Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki’s defenses were clearly weakened, but her attack power had not diminished. The slight delay in reaction speed he saw when faced with Ryo-Ohki was now absent.
Funaho deployed the Light Hawk Wings and started to hammer away at Ryo-Ohki. “Good! This might work.” Just then, a violent vibration shook Funaho’s hull. It was a direct hit by Ryo-Ohki.
“A direct hit?! But the Light Hawk Wings are deployed!” Yosho hastily confirmed this on the monitors, seeing the three Light Hawk Wings. The next moment, there was another strike. “That’s…impossible!!”
Ryo-Ohki’s attacks were passing through the Light Hawk Wings. It was the same phenomenon as the time Azusa, Yosho’s father battled Kirito and Ryo-Ohki. The damage to both ships, battling without defenses, began to affect navigation.
How long had they been fighting? Yosho was wrestling with severe pain when he saw the planet appear from behind the moon. “That…must be Earth!” The planet where his mother was born. The planet of blue waters.
Yosho stared at its beauty for a short time but came back to his senses at Funaho’s pleas. Ryo-Ohki suddenly filled the entire field of view on the screen. A suicide attack! As the thought ran through his mind, a tremendous shock shook Funaho’s bridge.
Ryo-Ohki was wounded badly, and perhaps because she was a living spaceship, instinctively sought water, descending toward Earth without any input from Yosho. Yosho threw Funaho’s weight against Ryo-Ohki to steer them towards a small island country. Funaho’s outer hull was already destroyed, with no trace of its original structure left.
“Mrrgrowwl!” With her crystal glowing bright red and a horrific yowl, Ryo-Ohki flew across the night sky, crash-landing on the surface. Funaho’s unit was also badly damaged, forcing a crash landing.
This is it… There was no guarantee the damaged core unit would withstand such a landing. But if I may die on my mother’s home world…
He closed his eyes and vanished. Funaho had used the last of her strength to transport herself and Yosho.
“Yosho…kun… Yosho-kun…” He heard a voice from somewhere. She sat next to him, cupping her cheek in one hand while she poked him in the cheek with a finger. A girl with strong force of will in her eyes. She eased the suffering inside him. “Yosho-kun…” Misty-eyed, she rubbed her cheek against his, just like a cat expressing her deepest affections… He did not want to part from her. He wanted to stay by her side, feeling her warmth. But it was not to be. Her tears were testament. “I love you… Yosho…”
“Airi-dono!” Yosho grabbed the hand in front of him and realized that it did not belong to the woman calling to him from the depths of his consciousness but a girl he had never seen before. “No, it’s not her…”
“Oh…” The girl turned bright red and withdrew her hand and hurriedly left the room. Yosho’s mind was still in a haze, and he watched her silently.
Once his head started to clear, he pushed himself up to better assess the situation. He was resting in a room. The house was old but tasteful and comfortable, and reflective of its caretaker’s character. From between the sliding shoji doors the girl had left open, he saw gorgeous fall foliage.
“It’s so beautiful…” Yosho felt like he knew this place. As he gazed outside, a bright red leaf from a garden maple fluttered down by his pillow, tossed by the breeze. He picked it up and studied it. “I’m glad you’re awake.”
Yosho looked up to see an old man sliding the door shut behind him.
He was probably the master of this house. “I am deeply grateful for your care while I was unconscious,” he bowed.
The old man shook his head. “The one who found you was my granddaughter, Kasumi.” Yosho looked over towards the young girl he saw earlier.
“Um… I-I’ll go get some water.” When their eyes met, she blushed and ran off. She stepped outside and tripped over nothing. She popped back up, dusted herself off, and looked over at Yosho, her face still beet red. She hastily got up and started running again.
Yosho could not help laughing, as she reminded him of a puppy. “She can be rather clumsy. Please don’t mind her.”
“Oh no, she deserves thanks for saving my life. My name is Masaki Yosho.”
The old man burst out laughing upon hearing his name for some reason. He apologized, saying his name was Tairoh. “I’m sorry. This must be some kind of fate…”
“Fate, you say?”
“See that mountain? It has the same name as you.” He pointed towards a nearby peak.
Yosho raised himself up and looked around. The scenery was the same as his mother’s garden. “Where am I…?”
“I apologize if I’m mistaken, but are you Funaho’s… No, that’s not possible. Forget I ever mentioned it.”
At Tairoh’s words, Yosho realized where he was, as well as who this old man and the young girl were. “Tairoh-dono, I…” Just as he started to tell him the truth, they heard Kasumi’s scream from afar.
Tairoh scratched his head and said, “She probably tripped again somewhere…”
“Oh no!” Yosho stood up with a shout. He had not confirmed whether
Ryoko was alive or dead. He overcame the pain of his wounds and ran towards the voice with Tairoh.
“Wh-what is that?! A woman…or an ogre?” They were close to the crater where Ryo-Ohki had crashed. There, Ryoko, covered in wounds, was holding Kasumi. With an exultant smile, she held out her hand.
“Give me back…my jewels…”
“Ryoko, let her go. If you want them, take them from me by force.
You’re a pirate.”
“Give them back… I can’t control my hands, heh heh.” “I-I can’t breathe.”
“Stop it!”
Paying no heed to Yosho, Ryoko tightened her grip on Kasumi’s neck.
She really did not have control over her hand.
“Kasumi!” Tairoh shouted heartrendingly.
“All right, I’ll give you the jewels!” But his voice did not reach her.
Having lost control, Ryoko acted upon the instinct of destruction alone. “I can’t bre-”
“Stop it, nooo!!”
At that moment, it happened. As if it was foreordained… Kasumi’s bosom radiated light and knocked Ryoko away.
“…!!”
Yosho used that moment to take out his Master Key, enduring the pain and thrust his sword into Ryoko’s neck. Ryoko struggled and gurgled, and stretched her hand out toward Yosho, baring her sharp claws. There was a crazed smile on her face. She was in pain, but this was the first time she’d had this much fun. It was a pleasure she had never experienced before.
“Heh, heh heh, ha ha ha… Kya ha ha ha ha!!” She laughed maniacally.
Yosho sealed the last jewel from her neck into his Master Key. Ryoko’s flailing limbs grew quieter, then stopped moving.
There was a sigh of relief—and then, Ryoko opened her eyes wide and assaulted Yosho. The two of them vanished. Or so it seemed to Tairoh and Kasumi’s eyes. But around them were sounds of explosions and roaring wind, and in less than a minute, they appeared before them again. Ryoko stood, while Yosho was down on one knee. It seemed like the victor was obvious. But then it was Ryoko who collapsed like a puppet with severed strings.
“What’s going on…?!” Yosho, panting, looked at his Master Key, which was glowing in reaction to something. Kasumi, also having sensed something, took out a comb from her bosom. Seeing it, Yosho opened his eyes wide. “That’s from a Royal Tree…”
The comb, a memento of her late mother, was the one Funaho had left her younger sister. “Fate…” Yosho mumbled, holding the Master Key. A return to one’s origins. Those born into the Masaki House shared a destiny. They would always wander and face change.