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Episode 14 -	Tokyo or Bust!
	KAttobase / Okayama -> Tōkyō / musenryokō
	[Flying off the handle - hitchhiking from Okayama Tokyo]
First aired -	1st July 1997

A pair of comets, the Manuketa comets, blaze a glittering trail over the skies of Japan in a rare interception of the Earth's orbit. On the Earth below, Ayeka is more concerned with what Tenchi is up to than stargazing. Desperate to keep an eye on him and, more importantly, his relationship with Sakuya, Ayeka tries to find a way to get to Tokyo; not an easy task when everyone is broke and the inter-dimensional tunnel is still out of order. Nobuyuki is away on a trip, so she has no-one to borrow money from. Washu is unwilling to help her, as she wants to devote her time to researching Yugi, Mihoshi and Kiyone are called out on duty, Ryo-Ohki isn't feeling well, so she cannot fly there, and Ryoko says she trusts Tenchi and refuses to take part. It is therefore up to Ayeka to rely on her own mettle and find a way there by herself. She soon hits on the idea of hitchhiking to Tokyo, and she drags Sasami and Ryo-Ohki along with her. Yugi is watching Ayeka, and she commands Tsugaru to help Ayeka reach Tokyo, so that she can see how well Tenchi is getting on with Sakuya.

Ayeka's early attempts at hitchhiking are pretty disastrous, and Sasami is about ready to give up when they finally manage to flag down a leather-clad biker girl with a motorbike and sidecar. Her bike is no ordinary machine; it easily outpaces the other superbikes on the road, and even the bullet trains, and before long, the princesses are well on the way to Tokyo.

A little while later, the princesses and the biker have stopped for a rest at a roadside café, and they take the opportunity to become better acquainted. The biker introduces herself as Masayo Manuketa, and asks Ayeka why she wants to get to Tokyo. Eager to tell her story once again, she gives Masayo her own version of events, claiming that, while studying in Tokyo to be her bridegroom, Tenchi was brainwashed by the evil Sakuya and is under her control. In return, Masayo tells her own story. She tells of her unrequited love for a man by the name of Isao Ketauchi, the fastest man on the road, and how she is continually upgrading her motorcycle to match his speed so she can profess her adoration for him. They are interrupted from their stories when a group of bikers charge into the café, shouting that Isao is out racing again. Masayo rushes to leave and chase him, but outside the café she is met by Tsugaru, who orders her to finish her mission to take the princesses to Tokyo. Before the three of them leave, they hear Isao approaching over the horizon, and in a second he thunders past in a cloud of dust. Ayeka decides that unrequited love is more important than getting to Tokyo, and she tells Masayo to follow her dream and catch up with Isao.

After a high-speed chase along the cliff side roads, Masayo soon catches up with Isao, and through the clouds of dust the princesses are astonished at what they see; Isao is no biker — he's a runner, faster on his feet than any bike! The only way for them to get his attention is to overtake him, and Ayeka realises that with her and Sasami on the bike, they are slowing Masayo down. The princesses spot their opportunity when the bike nears a gap in the road and they leap out of the sidecar. The extra boost of speed that Masayo gets carries her ahead of Isao, and the two of them join hands. The princesses are saved from their plummet off the edge of the cliff by Ryo-Ohki, who transforms into her mechanoid form and catches them. As they watch, Masayo and Isao are surrounded by a blue light. Masayo thanks Ayeka for her help, and side by side with Isao, they return to their comets; the two of them were summoned from the passing comets.

Ayeka's love mission over, the princesses find out that they have overshot Tokyo by a long way, and ended up in Sendai! But after all the drama of their journey so far, Ayeka isn't going to be stopped by a little thing like going hundreds of miles off course, and is even more determined to get to Tokyo.

Some time later, the princesses arrive in at the door of Tenchi's apartment, hungry, dirty and exhausted. Too tired to think about why they wanted to hitchhike anyway, they stagger into the apartment, crawl under the bedclothes and fall back to Okayama through the now repaired inter-dimensional portal, where they fall asleep on the floor!

<< Episode 13 - The Eye of the Destroyer

Episode 15 - Love Match >>

When Sasami and Ayeka first see Masayo, some scrolling Japanese text appears behind them. From top to bottom it reads; kakko ii ("Cool") berii naisu ("Very Nice") [third line obscured] berii naisu ("Very Nice") [fifth line obscured]

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