Washu calmly walked out of the door and into the Masaki house. Gary was 
sitting at the
couch, his eyes closed, hands on his knees and he breathed deeply through 
his nose, deep
in traditional Danzihia prayer.

Sassami peeked round the corner of the kitchen "Oh Washu there you are!"
Washu said nothing as she walked past Sassami.

Ayeka was hanging up washing with Mihoshi as Washu stepped outside.
They both turned to look at Washu as she walked past.

"What is it Washu?" Ayeka asked concerned.

Washu simply pointed up at the sky. Ayeka looked up and gasped as the 
silhouette of
Soja hung over the planet earth. Dropping the wet shirt that she was about 
to put up
Ayeka rushed inside.

Ryoko watched this as Washu walked up the stairs towards the Shrine where 
Tenchi was
practising. Sighing she floated down towards Washu.

"Washu I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier" Ryoko smiled weakly.

"Save it" Washu said, face looking ahead "your anger will be justified soon"

"What does that mean?" Ryoko blinked.

"You'll see" Washu muttered as she walked on, reaching the top of the steps.

There Tenchi was standing perfectly still on one leg, he was standing on 
tall log that
looked very unstable. To top the exercise in mental (as well as physical) 
agility, he had
balanced a wooden sword in the palm on his hand.

"Drop the sword Tenchi" called Katsohito as he picked up several small 
canvas balls.

Tenchi nodded as he dropped the sword. Katsohito then threw the balls right 
at Tenchi in
quick succession. Although this gave Tenchi a bit of a challenge, he managed 
to stay
stable as he caught each ball. Tenchi smiled smugly as he stood there 
triumphantly.

This confidence was sadly shattered when Washu coughed her arrival, 
startling Tenchi
and sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Try harder" sighed Katsohito as he turned to Washu "well what brings you 
here?"

"Look up" Washu said as she helped Tenchi get on his feet.

"Hmm" Katsohito said, rubbing his moustache "a bit unexpected"

"Quite" Washu nodded "should we reconvene at the house?"

****

"Gary?" Mihoshi poked, waking him from his trance. He turned and put the 
specially
made herbal smoker out and back in the Danzihia prayer case along with a 
copy of the
updated ancient texts.

"It's here," Mihoshi said looking down "Soja is here"

"Prepare an emergency message to GP headquarters" Gary said as he got up, 
shakily at
first.

Mihoshi coughed a bit "what were you breathing in there earlier?"
"Oh just some herbs from the garden" Gary said "nothing damaging, it's part 
of the
Danzihia religion that you must breath in the virtue of the planet.

"Oh" Mihoshi nodded "Well Washu is coming back now"

"Sasami remember what we talked about last night?" Ayeka said, kneeling 
down.

"Yes" Sasami nodded "why what's happening?"

"I just needed you to know that whatever happens I am going to be right 
there beside
you" Ayeka said with a smile.

"It's here isn't it" Sasami asked.

Ayeka looked away for a second.

"Ayeka please be careful" Sasami sniffed as she hugged her elder sister.

"I will don't worry" said Ayeka softly as she stood up.

Walking into the living room, Ayeka saw everyone sit down and waiting.
"We can't waste any more time" Washu said as she scratched the back of her 
head "We
need to stop Soja now"

"Washu" Gary said, putting a hand up "is it safe for me to use those gloves 
again"

"Gary!" Mihoshi said "no way"

Washu said nothing as Gary looked at Mihoshi.

"I've got no other choice," Gary said as he looked into her big blue eyes.

"But what happened last time!" pleaded Mihoshi "Washu tell him!"

"You will be taking a risk true" Washu nodded as she fumbled in her pockets 
"here take
these" she said throwing him a packet.

"What is it?" Gary asked.

"Safety medicine" Washu explained "they should stop the flashbacks, for the 
moment"

"See Mihoshi" smiled Gary softly "nothing to worry about"

Mihoshi conceded, though she still had that concerned look on her face.

"Right" Ryoko said "me, Ayeka and Tenchi will go in first, followed by you 
Gary and
Mihoshi?"

Washu nodded "Ryoko you will need your gems"

Ryoko smiled and clicked her fingers "Tenchi will you do the honours"

Tenchi shrugged "I haven't got them, Grandfather has them"

Katsohito smiled as he pulled a small button holder out of his pocket, he 
opened it and
revealed the three shining gems.

"You know what to do Ryoko" Katsohito said.

Ryoko nodded as she held out her arms, her brow furrowed as she strained to 
re-
incorporate the gems into her body, one appearing on her left arm, another 
forming on
her right.

"Okay stop it" Washu said, shutting the case "she doesn't need the third"

"How would you know" Ryoko glared.

"Why should I even try?" Washu said, "You won't listen anyway".

Ryoko blinked as Washu turned to the door.

"Let's get going" Washu said "as I said we can't waste any more time"

****

Waiserdau stood by his office looking over the control room. Operation 
Watchman had
been set on high alert after the new mysterious power that had gained 
dimensional
capability had broken the main locks that had been set the week before.

These locks were enacted on this particular dimension, limiting any travel, 
phasing of
matter or anything that would involve dimension travel by locking shut 
dimension space
around the area.

The power had now found a way around these locks and had continued to 
expand.
Amnasaki had gone for an emergency meeting with the Security Council, the 
real power
people behind Earth these days.

"Sir" said an Officer as he ran up to Waiserdau "We've detected a massive 
increase of
energy in sector 44"

Waiserdau nodded "Thank you Captain, call in all non-essential staff and put 
a lock on all
Watchman travel in 30 mins"

"Why sir?"

"If that thing stores up any more energy past the 50 million, million, 
million, million,
million ton point then it'll have to expel it all in one go" Waiserdau 
explained, rubbing
his head "and not only will it dissipate at such a rate that not even a 
hamster would suffer
any damage"

"Something much more serious could happen?" the Captain said.

"Yep, an RCS"

"a Resonance Cascade Scenario!" gasped the Captain "a permanent tear in the
dimensional fabric?"

"Good guess," Waiserdau grinned as he pulled out a 50 Euro note "here go buy 
yourself a
strong drink, you'll need it if you want to get through tonight with your 
sanity intact"

The Captain said nothing as he wandered off, the shock still setting in. 
Waiserdau
smirked as he watched the mayhem below him in the control room.

"Yukinojo" Mihoshi said lovingly as she sat in her seat "set a course 
please"

"Where to?" the computer whirred.

"The space battle cruiser Soja"

"Is that wise Detective?" asked Yukinojo, his anxiety circuits kicking in.

"Look mate" glared Gary as he pulled Yukinojo's head down "unless you want 
to be
blamed for why the Jurai protectorate of the solar system suddenly 
disappeared off the
face of the Milky Way then I'd suggest you do exactly what Detective Mihoshi 
says"

"Gary calm down" Washu said as she patted his back "we haven't even got 
there yet"

"We're ready" Ryoko said as her face appeared on the holo-display "closing 
in on Soja in
30 seconds"

"Good" Washu nodded "we're following in right behind you"
Gary sat down next to Mihoshi and pulled down a HUD onto his eye "weapon's 
systems
activated and ready"

"I've got the stick," Mihoshi said as she gunned the throttle, the engines 
actually
responding without a kick for once.

"Ryoko" Washu asked in Ryoko's mind "has Soja made any offensive movements 
yet?"

"No" Ryoko shook her head "why hasn't it done anything yet?"

"I have no idea" Washu shrugged.

Ryo-ohki had stayed in ship form as she had wedged herself into Ryu-oh. 
Fortunately
Ryoko and Ayeka had worked out the best position to take advantage of the 
combined
thrust of both ships.

Ayeka sat down and waited, looking down at the floor. How well could she 
work with
Ryoko? They were former enemies after all.

Ryoko however was thinking of other things. Why has Washu been so quiet to 
her? What
was with the references to the future? She looked at Tenchi who hadn't said 
a thing for
the whole journey as they sat in Ryo-ohki.

"Strange" she thought.

"What?" Washu asked.

"Tenchi hasn't said anything for a long time now"

"Watch him" Washu said.

Ryoko nodded as she looked at Soja, the massive, structure of reinforced 
high grade Gra
and Plas steel. Yet it was silent, it's hundreds (if not thousands) of 
automated gun
emplacements, each one able to shoot with un-human accuracy were closed in 
their
containers. It was like it was turned off or something.

Ryo-ohki and Ryu-oh slowed to a stop as they neared the hull of Soja. Ryoko 
breathed in
deeply as she rose up into the air.

"Well time to go" Ryoko sighed.

"Take care" Ayeka said as she stood up, clasping her hands and closing her 
eyes.

"I will" Ryoko smiled as she phased through the wall of Ryo-ohki.
When Ryoko left Ayeka began going through her transformation sequence.

"Tenchi!" Ayeka said, "remember your training that I taught you, change into 
your battle
dress!"

Tenchi blinked "yes, sorry Lady Ayeka".

Floating towards Soja, she saw how massive it was compared to Ryo-ohki and 
Ryu-oh
put together, she heard Yukinojo move smoothly into place for a docking.

Ryoko phased through the exact point that Washu had pinpointed for the 
blast. She
looked around.

Deserted.

Shrugging she teleported back to Ryo-ohki.

"Nobodies home" Ryoko said.

"That's good" Ayeka said, now in her Royal Battle dress "shall we?"

"Let's" nodded Ryoko as she slowly changed into her red and black combat 
suit, the
classic black stripe forming on her face. After this had happened Ryoko 
placed her hands
on Ayeka's shoulders.

"Hold still" Ryoko said as she closed her eyes. Tenchi watched as the pair 
disappeared as
Ryoko teleported herself and Ayeka to Soja. Then she reappeared and hugged 
Tenchi.

"Ack!" Tenchi gasped "you don't have to be that close!"

"If it's you then I can be as close as I want" winked Ryoko as she started 
the Teleport.

"Ryoko" shouted Tenchi as they disappeared from view.

"Ryoko!" gasped Ayeka "how dare you take advantage of Tenchi like that!"

"It's the only way I could teleport him," grinned Ryoko.

"Then why didn't you hug me?" glared Ayeka, seeing right through Ryoko.

"Well..err..okay I did take advantage of Tenchi!" shouted Ryoko.

"Ahem" Tenchi coughed "shouldn't we get back on track?"

The pair of women stopped and sighed.

Ryoko stepped up to the outer wall and placed her hand on it "oh so much 
power!" she
smiled to herself.

Ayeka closed her eyes and put her hands in front of her "I'm ready"

"Good" said Ryoko "stand back Tenchi"

Tenchi nodded and covered his face.

Gary and Mihoshi watched as a hole was blown through the hull. Almost 
simultaneously,
several logs appeared in the hole and formed a force field.

"That's our cue," said Gary "take us in Detective"

"Yes sir" nodded Mihoshi as she brought Yukinojo in nice and smoothly, 
stopping the
ship right by the newly made hole.

Soja though still hadn't offered any resistance, this worried Washu as it 
did surprise her.
And it surprised her a lot. She clicked her neck as the familiar clank of 
docking
equipment was heard as Yukinojo docked with Soja.

"Right" Gary said as he slipped the gloves on again, feeling the energy 
pulse through his
body as they activated "me and Mihoshi shall enter first, then you can come 
in okay
Washu?"

"Sure" shrugged Washu "just don't get me killed that's all"

"Erm..okay" Gary said.

"I'm ready!" Mihoshi said with determination as she entered with her action 
suit,
slamming a magazine into her clear white RPG.

"Bloody hell!" said Gary with a raised eyebrow "is that what the GP outfit 
you guys these
days?"

"Yeah" blinked Mihoshi "why?"

"Oh uh no reason" Gary hehed nervously. Washu thwacked him in the back of 
the head.

"Quit your gawping and lets get on with it!" she said as Mihoshi giggled.

"Yes boss," sighed Gary as he transformed into his Black Ops suit.

****

"So we're all here now" Ryoko smiled as she looked down the corridor, 
Yukinojo having
closed the dock and shut down.

"There are two ways to the main control room that," Washu said pointing them 
out left
and right respectively.

"We'll go to the left?" Tenchi asked.

"Okay" Washu nodded "we'll take the route to the right"
Gary clicked his fingers and pulled something out of his backpack and gave 
it to Mihoshi.

"What is it?" Mihoshi asked "some kind of headset?"

"Yeah, put it on, we are both connected via video link, if we get split up 
we'll be able to
communicate with each other"

"Wow" smiled Mihoshi "hello!" she beamed into the pin sized camera that was 
on the
head set.

"Uh..hello Mihoshi" smiled Gary, he turned to Washu "shall we get going?"
Washu nodded sweetly "of course"

"So Washu do we actually know what this AI core looks like?" Mihoshi asked 
as she
peered round a corner to face yet another vast, long empty corridor.

"You'll know it when you see it" Washu said, her arms crossed as she waited 
for Gary
and Mihoshi to give the all clear.

"Are you sure the Robots haven't gone on strike or something?" Gary said, 
rubbing the
back of his head.

"Yes I'm sure!" Washu replied.
Gary sighed as he walked out into the corridor. Still nothing.

"I'm glad Soja is taking a peaceful attitude to all this" shrugged Gary as 
started to walk
down the corridor.

"Darn it!" muttered Mihoshi in what was her closest attempt at cursing.

"What?" Washu asked as they turned to see Mihoshi messing with her RPG.

"It keeps jamming," she said as she reloaded the magazine "and I haven't 
even fired yet"

"That's Soja" Washu murmured "I have no idea how it's managed it but it's 
accessed the
control circuit on Mihoshi's RPG"

As Washu said this, a light hum could be heard, increasing in volume.

"Systems starting up" blinked Washu.

Gary grabbed Washu's arm "Common Mihoshi we have to keep moving" he said 
starting
a brisk pace "because if I'm not mistaken Soja is about to wake up"

"You hear that?" Ryoko said, "sounds familiar"

"It does?" blinked Ayeka "but this is the first time we've ever been on this 
ship"

"You sure?" Tenchi added.

"I dunno" shrugged Ryoko "it just rings a bell in my mind" she said as she 
looked up and
around. The corridor they were walking in was long and thin; the place so 
far had been
deserted.

Then a shriek of an ultra high frequency warning siren pierced the ears of 
the trio as the
corridor was bathed in a red light.

Before they could say anything, both means of escape were cut off as two 
blast doors
slammed shut in front and behind, the crash of the doors closing 
reverberated against the
cold steel walls.

They waited; their patience wasn't rewarded as they heard a screeching noise 
of metal
against metal. Looking up they realised to their horror that the ceiling 
above them was
about to fall on them.

It fell, several thousand tons of titanium falling the short distance to the 
soft skulls and
flesh below. Tenchi closed his eyes, ready for the impact.

"Ryoko!" gasped Washu.

"What about her?" Mihoshi said looking around "Where is she?"
Then the red lights and sirens hit the area. Gary clutched his head in pain 
as did Mihoshi,
Washu however seemed to be unaffected.

"No" Washu sniffed, hand over her mouth.

Tenchi opened his eyes to see that he wasn't a pancake ready for the plate. 
In fact he was
just as inflated as he had always had been. He looked up to see Ayeka, her 
hand held up,
the light blue tint of a shield covering Tenchi and Ryoko, the massive 
strain evident on
her face as she struggled to keep the load off of them.

"Wow good going Ayeka!" phewed Tenchi as he got up.

"Just get this thing off of me!" gasped Ayeka as she struggled to keep the 
shield up.
Ryoko was only too happy to oblige as she blew the chunk of metal apart. 
Ayeka, now
the load had literally been lifted off of her shoulders, fell to her knees, 
breathing heavily.

"You okay?" Tenchi said, going to the exhausted Princess's aid.

Ryoko frowned "common we need to get to the AI core before Soja realises 
that it's
massive metal block failed to impress"

Ayeka nodded as she got up, wiping the sweat off of her face.

"Washu" Gary said as he formed his energy sword "what exactly are those 
things?"

"CCMs mk.5a" Washu said as she stood back "Close Combat Mecha's"
Washu was staring at 5 jet black humanoid robots.

"Those energy swords look familiar" Gary said, looking at the orange swords 
that they all
formed in response to Gary.

"Yes" Washu nodded "They all have the test version of Ryoko's mk.4 Energy 
sword"

Gary didn't want to listen to any more conversation as he ran forward, 
jumping against
the side of the wall and leaping across the CCMs, his sword arching through 
one of the
CCM's neck joints, effectively an de-capitation. Gary jumped back and smiled 
as the lead
CCM collapsed to the floor then blinked as the 4 others came on at once, 
Gary dodging
and diving the sweeps and jabs of their energy swords.

"Mihoshi!" shouted Gary with a heavy tint of concern "help here please!"

"I would if I could get my darn RPG to fire," shouted Mihoshi hysterically 
as she shook
the RPG.

Washu sighed as she got a metal pen out and stabbed it into the control 
circuit at the back
of Mihoshi's RPG, forcing it to work in analogue mode only.

"Oh gee thanks" blinked Mihoshi and she took aim and let off two rounds 
"Gary duck!"

"Duck?" Gary said "where?" He looked behind him "Bloody hell!" he cried as 
he hit the
deck, the two RPG rounds narrowly missing him and hitting home, obliterating 
the four
remaining CCM's that were closing in behind him.

"Gary?" Mihoshi said running up to him and helping him up "are you okay?"

"Yeah" coughed Gary "great"
Washu walked past the pair as they looked into each other's eyes for a 
second. She
smiled as she coughed loudly making Gary and Mihoshi blink.

"We need to get going" Washu said as she disappeared in the smoke.

"Hey wait up!" shouted Gary as he ran after Washu, dragging Mihoshi with 
him.

****

They entered, Washu first, Gary and Mihoshi second. The place they entered 
was a
massive, metallic hall. Everywhere was covered in Plas-steel, yet the 
massive space and
expanse of the place was empty except for one thing.

In the centre was a big 20x20 meter frame, the actual frame itself thick, 
shiny metal.
Behind it were the glass windows of the control room that Washu had 
abandoned so
hastily all those millennia ago.

"Well here we are" Washu said "but no core"

"You mean we walked all that way" Gary groaned "for nothing!"

"Oh it can't be that bad" Mihoshi tried to reason.

They were rudely interrupted by flash, which emanated from where the frame 
was. All
heads turned to the frame as a liquid; red layer covered the insides of the 
frame.

"It can't be" gasped Washu "I destroyed that years before it even happened"

"What?" Mihoshi asked, "What is it?"

"What happened?" Gary said as he looked up, something was emerging from the 
layer.

"Ah Professor Washu" a young, male voice said as a humanoid form stepped out 
onto the
cold, hard metal floor "isn't it ironic that after all the years I've been 
following you, I
capture you when you freely walk into my arms"

"Washu?" Gary looked back down at the now shaking Professor "explanation?"

"There were two versions of Soja AI that I created" Washu said "AI OS beta 1 
and this
one OS beta 1.221"

"What was the difference?"

"The difference was that while the first one worked perfectly well, 1.221 
was a disaster,
it's endless drive for efficiency nearly killed billions so I had to destroy 
it" Washu
explained, her head looking up with hate in her eyes "I thought it had been 
destroyed for
good"

"Oh poor you!" laughed Soja "and now you've come to stop me!"

"I have" Washu nodded "leave everyone else out of this, you wanted me ever 
since I
managed to escape before you came online"

"Yes Professor I have" Soja nodded "ever since I lost you my quest for the 
perfect speed
to run development of the perfect robotic weaponry has taken a long time"

"And taken a lot of star systems to destroy" glared Gary.

"Quiet you" snarled Soja "imagine how much simulated joy I will feel when I 
destroy the
joke that is the Danzihian Commonwealth, you people have been trying to 
destroy me
ever since I woke up"

"That's because we realised the danger you posed" Gary replied, glaring down 
at Washu

"the Parliament voted unanimously to reject Washu's request to have the Soja 
tests take
place in it's space and now I see why"
Washu sighed and stepped forward "you have to be disconnected Soja, it's for 
your own
good"

"But that would be inefficient Professor" said Soja with a wry smile "you of 
all people
should know that". Soja then looked up and stared intently at Gary.

"Gary?" said Mihoshi quietly as she turned to look at him.

"It's over Soja just power down and it'll be okay" Washu tried to reason.

"Well before we do that, shouldn't you sort out the dissent in your own 
ranks?" laughed
Soja as Washu heard a chilling thud followed by a violent rush of air being 
expelled.

Slowly Washu turned round to find Gary with Mihoshi slumped over his arm, 
his fist
planted deeply in Mihoshi's gut, the blow being so fierce that it made 
Mihoshi faint from
the sudden rush of pain. Gary however had his goggles off, his eyes were 
white, pure
white, his expression a permanent frown.


"What.." gasped Washu in horror "what have you done to him?"

"Oh nothing, you really should be careful when you plant micro-chips in 
people's necks
y'know"

"His MCU" Washu thought "that's how he's being controlled"
Without thinking, Washu lunged at Gary with her pen, aiming for a point at 
his neck.

"Oh dear" giggled Soja, the emotion protocols in it's programming working 
perfectly
today. As Washu leapt up, Gary saw this and thrust his hand forward, 
grabbing her
perfectly in the neck. Washu gagged as she struggled to free herself.

"I love to see fear" Soja smiled as it walked up to Washu as she fought for 
air "it the only
emotion that I rarely get to see these days" he shrugged "I used to see it 
all the time, from
the lowliest Galaxy Police deputy to the highest Jurain high councillor". 
Washu tried to
kick out at Gary but to no avail.

"You know what?" Soja said, it's face pressed up right against Washu's 
"thanks to your
emotion protocols I can 'smell' fear" he nodded enthusiastically like a five 
yr old who
thought he was a good boy "by the amount of sweat the body produces and 
Professor you
may be over 20,000 years old but boy do you sweat buckets when you're 
scared!"

Washu just whimpered as Gary started to cut the oxygen supply off. Soja's 
smile turned
to a wide grin. Then it couldn't contain itself. It started to laugh 
uncontrollably, the
synthetic spit flying against Washu's terrified face as the humanoid went 
into hysterical
laughing, it's simulated voice cackling, it was so real yet so perfect it 
had to haver been generated.

Soja calmed down "now Professor I need you for one thing"

"What?" Washu blinked, as she became drowsy.

"You see for the last hundred years I've been working on a way to get this 
ship through
the dimensional fabric" he turned away from Washu "that way I can go 
wherever I want
in an instant"

"Why do you need me for that?" Washu blinked.

"Something has prevented me from leaving, I need the alternative frequencies 
that you
have in you head Washu I need them now!" Soja said.

"You need them?" Washu asked.

"Yes"

"You really need em?"

"Yes I do Professor"

"Then shag a pony you jerk!" coughed Washu.

Soja walked away "you know what to do Detective Sergeant" it giggled as it 
walked back
to the frame "when you're done, kindly expel all energy in those primitive 
gloves"

"No!" gasped Washu "he'll have a heart attack, he'll die!"

Soja shrugged "oh well" it said. This brought on more laughter.

Washu closed her eyes as Gary started to squeeze, the pressure on the back 
of her neck
becoming unbearable.

"Ryoko" she gurgled in pain "I'm sorry"

Suddenly, Gary was knocked off of his feet as Ryoko slammed into him, Gary 
dropping
Washu onto the floor, her coughing and breathing in as much air as possible.

Soja seeing this walked into the frame, as he did the red liquid 
disappeared, as did the
frame.

"What are you doing Gary!" yelled Ryoko as they came to a stop on the floor. 
Gary
remained silent as he struggled against her grip.

Washu was curled up into a ball. Shaking fiercely.

"Washu" Ayeka shouted as she dropped her knees, picking Washu up in her lap 
"are you
okay"

Washu's face was fixed with fear as Ayeka calmed her down. Tenchi meanwhile 
blinked
as Mihoshi started to regain conscience.

"You okay?" Tenchi said, picking her up.

"No Gary" she murmured.

"Ah this is Ryoko" a voice came from nowhere.

"Who's asking?" Ryoko shouted, keeping Gary down.

"Oh just the thing who caused that gash on your left arm" the voice said 
with amusement.

"Wha-" Ryoko blinked "but I've had that ever since I was born" she looked 
down at her
arm "ever since I was"

"Oh yes your so-called mother was doing what she did best, experimenting" 
the voice
said "on her dearest daughter!" it mocked.

"No" whimpered Washu "it's not true!"

"Well believe it cos it was me who stabbed her in the arm!"
Ryoko looked up at Washu who was shaking badly "No it can't be"
The voice giggled as Ryoko finally realised the truth, then the memories 
broke through.

"No" Ryoko said, tears forming in her eyes.

Just then Gary, who was still struggling kicked Ryoko off of him and jumped 
up.
Mihoshi who had just shaken off the cobwebs from her head blinked.

"Gary please! Don't go!" she shouted.

To no avail, Gary made good his escape.

"Oh poor Ryoko" laughed the voice "Only now discovering how she was brought 
into this world"

Ryoko didn't say a word. She was shaking herself.

"Well I'll leave you two alone for now" the voice said "bye". A laugh could 
be heard, as
the voice got fainter.

"Ryoko?" Tenchi asked as he walked over to her "are you-"

"I'll kill her," she said quietly.

"What?" blinked Tenchi.

"I'll kill her!" screamed Ryoko as she left up and lunged at Washu.

"Ryoko no!" yelled Mihoshi as she and Tenchi grabbed onto Ryoko in a futile 
attempt to
hold her back.

Tears of rage streamed down Ryoko's face, as she broke free from Tenchi and 
Mihoshi
and made the final lunge to Washu, who was still in Ayeka's arms. Ryoko 
harmlessly
bounced away as a light bluish tint formed around Ayeka and Washu (who was 
still in a
kind of trance of fear).

"You let me in now Ayeka" shouted Ryoko.

"I can't do that Ryoko," said Ayeka calmly.

"You bitch let me through now!" screamed Ryoko as she banged against the 
shield.

"Ryoko, she nearly died just now, do you think this will help?" Ayeka 
pleaded.

Ryoko blinked as she looked into Washu's mind. She saw despair, fear and 
above all
failure. As a mother she had failed to be with her daughter. Why is she mad 
when Washu
has been trying to tell her the truth for days!

Ryoko fell to her knees "oh god" she wept against the shield "I'm sorry 
mother"

"It's okay" she heard in her mind. She looked up and saw a weak smile form 
on Washu's
lips.



Fin