***This Fanfic is written without the permission of both Pioneer and AIC but 
I'm not
selling it so please do not sue me. Actually what you can do Pioneer and AIC 
is reopen
sales of Tenchi in the UK (you know how much it costs to get the stuff from
America!!!!!!!) PLEASE!!!! ***

Waiserdau rubbed a tissue over his sweat-laden face as he watched the 
situation
deteriorate. They did find Washu in the end, in the middle of the so-called 
'foreign
power'.

Intel reports suggest that now this whole crisis is of that particular 
Professor's doing,
the stealing of the DIM-e, the Resonance Cascade scenario, the massive 
battle cruiser that
they failed to pick up for the last 2 months, everything.

But now something even more chilling had come through as he read the latest 
report.
"Is this true?" blinked Waiserdau in sheer disbelief.

"Yes sir" the Captain, now Waiserdau's first official aide said as he handed 
over the rest
of the report "the first page is of the Brain transmissions of the Rouge 
that we managed to
pick up" he sighed "flip over to page 5 and you see what we just got"

He saw right away what the problem was, the chart composed of three normal
electromagnetic waves that any brain sends out. These are naturally 
impossible to
predict at all.

On page 5 however he saw the first two waves on the flat line, the last one 
had a
predictable low beat wave. This meant one thing.

Whatever Washu created, it had in one fell swoop, nullified Operation 
Watchman's 100-
year lead in dimension security technology. She could capture the minds and 
even clone
any of his Watchmen.

But there was more, walking back to his desk he picked up a copy of the file 
on subject
n.53: Gary Thach. He looked at the mental profile and compared it to the 
printouts. They
were very similar. He threw the printouts on his desk and looked up at his 
aide.

"I want Black ops notified to be on instant standby," barked Waiserdau "Call 
Amnasaki"

"But he's still in session with the Security Council" the Captain replied.

"I don't care if his ass is bolted to a seat at his Mother's funeral!" 
shouted Waiserdau, his
temper finally overflowing "we need him here ASAP!"

"Yes sir" the Captain nodded "Black ops are already on standby sir"

"Good" nodded Waiserdau as he fell back into his chair, the strain showing, 
if a
Resonance Cascade happened, Earth could be at serious risk.

And he'd take the flack for it.

****

"Where did he go?" Mihoshi moaned, her head swimming.

"I don't think he's himself" Tenchi replied as he made sure Mihoshi could 
stand before
looking at Ryoko, who stood up, wiping the tears away.

Ayeka, sure that Ryoko wouldn't try to get Washu's head on a stick again, 
lowered the
shield. Washu by now had recovered enough to stand on her own two feet.

"Ryoko" Washu said "I'm sorry for all that's happened, I should've told you 
everything
sooner"

"No I should be apologising for shutting you out, not giving you a chance to 
explain"
sighed Ryoko as she looked up "Mom"

Washu grinned widely as she opened her arms, ready to embrace her daughter 
"oh
Ryoko" she said happily.

"Washu" Ryoko sniffed as they hugged gently.

"I really am sorry for interrupting" Ayeka said "but we do need to get Gary 
back and get
rid of Soja"

"Yeah!" shouted Mihoshi "I'm not leaving without him" she tried to move but 
groaned as
the pain in her midsection was still there.

Ryoko smiled as she put Washu down "I'll find Gary"

"Are you sure?" Tenchi blinked "You'll be alone"

"I'll be fine" she turned to Washu "so what do I have to do to bring Gary 
back to the land
of the living?"
Washu tapped the back of her neck "there's a microchip just under his skin, 
hit and break
that and you'll break the link between him and Soja"

"Right that sounds easy" smiled Ryoko "just leave it to me"

"Right" Tenchi nodded "me Ayeka and Mihoshi will look after Washu"

Ryoko nodded as she looked at Tenchi "take care" she smiled.

"You too" replied Tenchi.

Ryoko lifted off and flew off down the corridor that Gary had leapt down 
earlier in
pursuit.

"Washu?" Ayeka asked, "Now we're here, what can you do?"

"Let's find out" Washu said as she summoned a holo-screen and keyboard and 
began
typing "this is gonna take time"

Tenchi looked back at where the Frame was.

It was gone.

****

Ryoko sniffed as she flew along, still shaking off the emotion of the 
situation, Washu and
herself were near enough as one now Ryoko remembered her childhood, breaking
through the barriers built over time.

"Ryoko" Washu said in her mind "you're coming up to the main power core 
room"

Ryoko blinked as she flew into a vast chamber, ceiling as high as the eye 
could see, and
with no probable depth and length as it stretched out in all directions for 
miles possibly.

Along each side of the walk way the pressure turbines of Washu's ancient 
Core
technology pumped power to ship's engines, a whooshing sound as the massive 
eight or
nine storey high pistons blew up and down, expelling vast amounts of energy 
to all parts
of the ship.

Ryoko slowed as she looked around.

"So many hiding places" she sighed "such little time"

Her patience was rewarded however when she looked up and saw Gary standing,
watching, face devoid of all emotion bar one - a frown.

Ryoko smiled determinedly "I found him!" she said in Washu's mind.

"Aim for the micro-chip in the back of his neck" Washu commented as she 
worked on.

They stared again for a moment, the two old enemies once again reunited. 
They sought
comfort in the mechanical sounds and sights around them as they prepared.

They ran, sprinting towards each other as fast as their legs could take 
them, forming their
energy swords. Ryoko jumping up as did Gary.

Then the dance began, Gary slicing downwards, Ryoko disappeared as she 
phased out of
view. Gary looked around quickly and dived through his own portal as Ryoko 
appeared
again behind him, her fist narrowly missing him as he slid through.

Now she was the one to guess next. Lucky. She threw herself backwards as an 
energy
sword appeared and nearly sliced her in two at the chest. Phasing back out 
Gary went
onto the defensive.

This dance went on what seemed forever, both carefully placing themselves as 
they
fought a silent strategic battle.

It ended as quickly as it had started. Ryoko dodging another slice from 
Gary's energy
sword phased out. Gary landed back on the ground and looked about him 
quickly.

The situation inside his head was a mess; the real Gary could only stand 
back in his head
and watch as Soja controlled all the major functions of his mind. The 
diagnostic and re-
alignment programs sent out by the MCU being blocked and destroyed by the 
rouge
signals. He, powerless to do anything occupied the only clean part of his 
mind and looked
on.

He paused, as he still saw no sign of Ryoko. Taking a breather, his heart 
beating at an
incredible rate. He sighed as the warning beeps slowed off.
"Good Ryoko" Washu said in her mind as Ryoko watched "let him calm down, his 
heart
won't take much"

Ryoko nodded as she prepared herself. She hadn't had to do this for 
centuries; she shook
her head of excess and needless thoughts. Smiling she half phased, her body 
becoming
transparent as she used the extra energy the gems offered her. Slowly, a 
clone of herself
phased out of her body.

"Twice as nice" grinned the original Ryoko.

"And twice as much kick ass!" added the newly made clone "shall we?"

Both Ryoko's grinned as they jumped down, aiming for their prey. Gary looked 
up and
leapt out of the way, back flipping a safe distance away from the two 
Ryoko's.

"You take the high road," said Ryoko 1 to her counterpart.

"Got it," grinned Ryoko 2 as she leapt into the air, streamlining herself 
aiming right at
Gary, her energy sword forming at the last moment as she struck. Her blade 
aimed for a
disabling blow to his right shoulder.

Gary brought up his shield just in time, the blow flexing the dimension 
space barrier in
by several inches as he flew back at least 20 meters, his back slamming into 
the cold hard
plas-steel floor.

"Get him now!" Ryoko 2 shouted as Ryoko 1 leapt into action, step-stoning 
her way
towards Gary via phasing in and out at points, closer and closer to Gary.

****


Washu blinked as a beeper went off in her pocket. Picking it out she gasped.

"What is it?" Mihoshi asked expectantly as Ayeka and Tenchi looked on, 
guarding the
two main entrances to the Hall.

"It's Gary, he's in danger" Washu said as she turned to Ayeka and Tenchi 
"his brain-
waves are becoming too sporadic"

"Is that bad?" Mihoshi asked nervously.

"Not for him, it just means Soja's making a clone of his mind" Washu 
explained to
Mihoshi "and that means that Ryoko will have too much on her hands"

"What can we do?" Tenchi blinked as he looked at Ayeka, she looked firm, yet 
scared at
what she knew what must come.

"Go, find Ryoko and help her any way you can" Washu said as her hands 
blurred away
on the holo-keyboard "Soja has to be kept at bay if I am going to shut it 
down"
Tenchi nodded and drew Tenchi-ken. Ayeka too nodded as she saw the future in 
a flash.

Ryoko 1 stabbed her blade down at Gary's neck, hoping to hit the MCU, which 
was
spread across the back of his neck just under the skin. Gary moved quickly, 
sweeping his
feet and knocking Ryoko 1 off balance. Ryoko 2 dived down. Seeing this Gary 
flew
round on his hand, bringing his heel up to meet the side of Ryoko 2's head, 
knocking her
to the side.

"Dammit!" the Ryoko's cursed systematically, like it was some programmed 
response.

Gary backed away, reforming his sword; slowly, shakily, he brought his free 
hand up,
like the body was rebelling against what the mind had told it to do. 
Straining hard he
balled into a fist. Making sure they could both see it, he popped his middle 
finger up.

"Well, well" grinned Ryoko 1 "I recognise that humour anywhere"

"At least we know he's not brain dead" Ryoko 2 replied, "I think he wants 
one on one
combat"

"Oh does he now?" said Ryoko 1, clicking her head painfully slowly "lets not 
disappoint
our opponent"

Inside his head, Gary groaned. Something bad was happening. He could feel, 
smell, hear,
touch and taste in several different locations other than his own.

"Clones!" he muttered as he shook his head, trying to fight a loosing 
battle.

"Good guess" said a voice from nowhere "except unlike you, they have 
unparalleled
tolerance to stress on the heart, making them almost inexhaustible in 
combat"

Ryoko strained as she re-formed into herself, trying to conserve as much 
energy as she
could. She closed her eyes and went deep into thought for a moment.

Meanwhile Gary stalked from side to side, waiting for her, goading her on, 
flashing his
blade as he randomly increased and decreased the voltage.

Then without warning Ryoko attacked. Her blade slamming down in impossible 
places at
impossible speeds, putting Gary onto the defensive having to use his blade, 
his agility and
above all his wits to keep in the 'game'.

Ryoko slammed down on him several times, nearly forcing him onto his knees, 
Gary on
his part high kicked, hitting Ryoko just under the chin. Ryoko backed away, 
stunned by
move.

Gary stalked on, making strikes and stabs at near enough the same speed 
Ryoko could
muster. Ryoko blocking as hard as she could, used her shield to good effect, 
blocking
blows that would have certainly caused serious damage, then using this as a 
platform to
strike back.

They locked blades, Ryoko grinned as she punched directly in the centre of 
his chest,
sending him flying. Falling on the floor he flipped back up again. Ryoko 
though had a
follow up to this simple body blow. Bowing her head forward, she quickly 
flung it back,
her hair spraying out small bolts of energy as it flew back into it's 
aggressive, wild and
spiky style.

Gary seeing the hundreds of bolt fly at him, side-flipped into the wall next 
to him, using
this as a springboard he side-flipped again, head, swimmingly passing 
overhead the
deadly bolts as they flew past under him.

"And now it ends" sighed the voice in Gary's head.

"What are you going to do?" Gary said, growing weak as the cloning process 
sapped his
strength.

"Oh, it's over now, my 3 clones are ready, the third is to be my new body, 
all constraints
lifted on this beauty, oh yeah!" the voice said, almost in some sort of 
ecstasy "but you, I
have no more use for"

"No" gasped Gary "I...wanted to say goodbye to Mihoshi....please"

"Hmmm.. no" joked the voice as Gary felt a marked increase of energy flow 
through
him. He groaned as he realised he had lost full control of his body as his 
heart rate
doubled, tripled, quadrupled.

"Mihoshi....I'm sorry for hurting you" Gary struggled.

"What?" Mihoshi said, looking around. She was still on the floor, Washu had 
fixed the
minor internal bleeding caused by the punch  "Gary?"

"What is it?" blinked Washu, strain evident on her head as she worked.

"I thought I heard Gary" Mihoshi blinked "he was talking to me"
Washu thought for a second.

"He's dying" Washu murmured to Mihoshi "don't worry Ryoko, Ayeka and 
Tenchi'll
bring him back, just you wait"

Mihoshi smiled weakly as Washu stood and walked over to Tenchi and Ayeka.

"You have to go now, you haven't much time" Washu said.

"But what about you?" Ayeka asked.

"Soja is getting more powerful by the minute, the sooner you assist Ryoko 
the better now
go!"

Ayeka nodded and looked to Tenchi.

"Common we can't waste time" Tenchi said as he ran off.

Gary gasped as he held his chest, full body control now given back to him as 
his heart
went over the edge. He fell to his knees. Then he gagged as he felt his 
heart stop.

"No" he groaned, normal colour returning to his eyes and his facial 
expression turning to
one of shock and pain "sod it".

Ryoko blinked and ran over "Gary?" she gasped as Gary fell face first on the 
floor

"Washu" she asked in her head "is he?"

"I don't know" Washu shrugged "leave it in those above him"

"What?" Ryoko blinked again "you can't let him die!"

"I'm not, watch it I think Soja has cloned him"

"Cloned him?"

"Yeah, keep an eye out" Washu said as she closed the link.

****

"Sir" Waiserdau's aide shouted from a console down in the control room "come 
quickly"
Waiserdau dropped his reports on his table and ran down the stairs to the 
main control
hall that was situated below his office. The place had been on red-alert for 
24 hours now,
large amounts of energy were being expelled on the battle cruiser as if some 
battle was
taking place.

"What is it Captain?" Waiserdau asked.

"The rouge, sir we've just got this information from his MCU"
Waiserdau looked at the display. Heart rate as flat as a ruler.

"This confirmed?" Waiserdau looked up "no discrepancies?"

"None at all" the Captain said "he's dead"
Waiserdau looked at the display, then looked up at the main screen, the 
countdown to
Resonance Cascade was still five hours or so away.

"Well sir?" the Captain asked.

"Restart procedure, 5 minute recovery period" Waiserdau said.
All those immediately around him blinked.

"For you Washu" Waiserdau thought.

"Sir?" asked the Captain, in shock "but he's dead sir"

"Well un-dead him!" glared Waiserdau "you can do it, restart the heart and 
initiate brain
recovery procedures!"
The Captain nodded "yes sir" and trapped on the console operator's shoulder 
"you have
your orders"
The operator nodded and prepared the remote administration tools.

"MCU heart restart prepped and ready for initiation"
Waiserdau nodded.

Ryoko, held Gary in her arms as he gurgled, his heart dead for over 2 
minutes.

"He's brain dead" Ryoko said as she lost her friend.

"Keep holding him" Washu said.

"Dammit Washu, he's dead!" shouted Ryoko, grief striking though in her 
voice.

Suddenly, Ryoko heard a beep, followed by Gary gagging in pain as he thrust 
his chest
out. Ryoko felt a small electric charge pulse emanate for a second from 
Gary's body.

Gary opened his eyes and looked at Ryoko.

"Jesus I didn't know you liked me that much!" he grinned.

"What?" blinked Ryoko "but you...you were dead!"

"I think that chip in the back of my head has something to do with it" Gary 
muttered,
breathing deeply, returning much needed oxygen to his body.

"How is he?" Washu said in Ryoko's mind.

"He's alive" sighed Ryoko in relief.

"Told ya!" Grinned Washu "now, make sure he's safe and watch out!"

Ryoko nodded as she helped Gary up "you need to get back to Washu" Ryoko 
said, "it's
too dangerous here"

Gary nodded, realising he was too weak now "I'll see you later, spar some 
time?"

Ryoko winked "of course"

Gary nodded and ran off out of the huge engine room. Ryoko seeing that Gary 
had gone
turned warily, she was weak herself.

Gary limped down the dark corridor, the ship was getting dimmer, yet the 
engines and
power making devices in the Engine hall were getting louder and louder as 
more power
was demanded from them.

Suddenly Gary looked down the corridor. Something was coming right at him at
tremendous speed, something in pink and purple garb. He blinked as Ayeka 
nearly
speared him. Ayeka however saw his eyes were back to normal, realising that 
this
was indeed the real Gary slowed up, nearly knocking Gary down.

"Hey, hey!" Gary shouted in exasperation "good guy, good guy!"

"Gary?" Ayeka threw a questioning look.

"Yeah good guy!" Gary said sarcastically "you know the people you don't 
hurt"

Ayeka smiled "sorry we couldn't take any chances"

Tenchi ran up beside her "Are you sure this is Gary?"

Ayeka winked "Sasami told me that you and Mihoshi were up to no good during
wash day"

Gary instantly blushed in embarrassment "I did nothing of the sort!" he 
protested.

"Yeah" laughed Tenchi "that's Gary all right"

Gary sighed as he felt his heartbeat fall back to normal "Ryoko's back there 
and
from what I help, she's not alone!"

Tenchi and Ayeka blinked.

"I'll get back to Washu and Mihoshi, I literally too tired to be of any 
help".

"Okay thanks anyway Gary" Tenchi nodded as he and Ayeka ran off.

Ryoko stood where she was, eyes closed as she went back into deep thought 
again. Her
suit, cut slightly from where Gary had nearly sliced her earlier.

The silence was disturbed however when Ryoko heard a rush of wind up above 
her.
Smiling she phased out of existence, the two blades missing their target.

"So these are the clones," grinned Ryoko as she formed her blade. Her 
opponents were
the same height and shape as Gary, yet they were more or less coated in 
beige silver, like
the Mass when they formed into a humanoid form, she remembered Washu showing 
her
that when she was young.

"Well" Ryoko said as she stepped forward, tracing a line with her blade, the 
heat melting
the cold, hard plas-steel floor and forming a welded line "I'll wait for you 
two to come
for me!"

The clones stepped forward warily for a second, analysing Ryoko's unexpected 
defensive
stance. They were even more surprised when Ryoko leapt forward, foot 
outstretched,
sending clone 1 onto the floor as she engaged quickly with the 2nd clone.

The second clone was more of a challenge for Ryoko, keeping back and giving 
himself
(and his partner) more time and room for manoeuvre. Frustrated, Ryoko leapt 
forward
again, sword sweeping, diving and jabbing with amazing speed and precision 
as she tried
to conquer her opponent. Then she remembered.

The first Clone.

Kicking the second clone away she turned quickly to see a blade head right 
for her neck.
Flinging herself backwards to avoid it, she had to dodge twice even before 
she hit the
floor. Before she could roll or even phase through the floor to escape the 
first clone
slammed his foot into her neck, pinning her there.

"Dammit" she thought in frustration, angry with herself for not taking the 
first clone into
contention.

Her luck was in for her fortunately as the blade came down to pin her head 
to the floor, a
pink flash flew just above her, taking the first clone off of her. Looking 
up she saw
Ayeka had just intervened, her force spear slamming the first clone into the 
wall some 30
meters away from her.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted, forming his blade from Tenchi-ken "get up quickly".

"Ryoko nodded as she re-phased upright and re-formed her blade, as she and 
Tenchi
faced the second clone.

Ayeka stood as she looked at the slumped clone. She blinked in amazement as 
a dark
blue shield flickered faintly behind the clone. Slowly it got up and faced 
Ayeka who had
backed off a bit, giving herself some room as she watched.

The clone itself switched off its energy sword (which had embedded itself in 
the wall
where they had both hit), and stood in front of Ayeka, hands clasped in 
challenge.

Ayeka nodded and jumped back again, the clone followed, keeping as close as 
he could.
Ayeka for her part jumped and dodged randomly.

It began with the clone raining a variety of kicks and punches down on 
Ayeka. Ayeka on
her part worked hard to block and return the favour to her opponent, jumping 
leg sweeps,
using her shield as much as possible.

Then the clone got a shot through, a high kick that connected perfectly with 
the left side
of her face which knocked the Princess backwards, she used this to backflip 
several times
to give herself more room.

The clone tried to run her down, to cut the amount of time to let her breath 
to a minimum.
Ayeka though was ready for him and delivered a sharp punch to the clone's 
gut. The
clone was stopped in his tracks as Ayeka continued, pushing blow after blow 
into the
clone's body, finishing the sequence with a quick and hard roundhouse kick 
to the head.

This blew the clone onto the floor as Ayeka stood back and watched. The 
clone slowly
stood and jumped at Ayeka, she in turn jumped up to receive him. He held 
back for a
moment though, Ayeka then went in with a kick to the shoulders, the clone 
however
caught the leg and to Ayeka's shock and horror, swung round and launched her 
at the
floor.

Ayeka hit the cold, hard steel floor with massive force, causing a big, deep 
dent as her
shield bore the brunt of the force; her spine though was aching badly from 
the shock. She
groaned as she opened her eyes.

The clone was flying down, foot outstretched. His target: her neck.

Ayeka blinked and closed her eyes, praying to get this just right. As the 
clone fell towards
her, logs began to appear, slowing his rate of decent. Then he stopped, 
fully encased in
the force field. Sweat dripped down Ayeka's forehead, under her tiara as she 
strained to
keep it up.

The clone on the other hand stared back as he called on as much energy as he 
could get
from dimension space, determined to break the field.

Then Ayeka blinked as she remembered her meeting with Tsunami. Closing her 
eyes
once again, she commenced the process.

"Heaven to Earth, Earth to Ocean" Ayeka started as she strained.

****

Sasami was lying on the grass inside, staring up at the stars on this 
gentle, clear and mild
night. Yawning she slowly closed her eyes to sleep; she had kept herself 
awake all day,
cooking for Grandfather Katsohito. So for now she stared.

Then she heard Ayeka.
"Heaven to Earth, Earth to Ocean" she heard.
Sasami gasped, Ayeka was in trouble.

"Ocean back to heaven" Sasami added.

"Tsunami show me the path" Ayeka continued.

"Engraved by the light!"

As Sasami chanted this over and over again with Ayeka via their previously 
unknown
psychic link, her rune began to glow and flash, the connection with Ayeka, 
Tsunami and
herself becoming ever stronger.

Then the rune on Sasami's head burst upwards towards the stars. The 
connection was
complete as Sasami experienced the power of a thousand of the largest stars 
combined
pulse through her body. However something was protecting her body and 
helping her
channel the energy to her sister.

Katsohito was at the shrine when he saw the pillar of light surge upwards 
into the sky.
Calmly he stood and began to walk down the steps of the great ancient 
shrine, making his
way to aide Sasami in any way he could.

"It's begun," he muttered.

"What the.." one operator shouted out loud as his screen started filling 
with impossible
figures and feedback "We have HCE intervention" he yelled to his control 
officer "repeat
HCE intervention"

"What?" Waiserdau gasped "Tsunami!" he jumped down the stairs and ran to the
operator and his console.

"Sir" nodded the operator "One of the HCEs has entered" he said pointing the 
printouts
that were going off the scales. Amnasaki simply looked down at Waiserdau as 
he nodded
confirmation and returned to the Commander's office.

"My first month here" Amnasaki said, shaking his head "and we've got all of 
this!"

"The situation has stabilised temporarily sir" Waiserdau said.

"The members of the council are not happy" Amnasaki said glumly as he looked 
out over the darkened
control room.

"Well the Security Council is never happy" Waiserdau said "they're gonna cut 
our
budget sooner or later, US or no US"

Amnasaki nodded "indeed, until then we need to stop that cascade!"

"We have Black op teams ready and waiting" Waiserdau noted.

"Good" Amnasaki nodded sitting down and rubbing his head "what's happening 
about
the DIM-e security?"

"Intel have put extra locks on the system software" Waiserdau replied "we 
don't know
how much longer it would keep a Watchman from being broken into but it'll 
help"

"And the fighting on Soja?"

"I think that's what prompted the HCE known as Tsunami to intervene sir" 
Waiserdau
said "We detected energy readings from several subjects on Soja and one on 
Earth, then a
massive influx from everywhere"

Amnasaki nodded and flopped into his chair. He looked up at Waiserdau.

"You know what to do"

"Requesting Authorisation sir" Waiserdau asked.

Amnasaki nodded.

Waiserdau nodded back and paced out of the office. He ran over to his new 
aide.

"Anything Sir?" the Captain asked.

"We're on" nodded Waiserdau "activate A and B Coy of the 5th Brigade"

The Captain nodded with a smile "with pleasure sir" and ran off to the 
Communications
section.

Waiserdau smiled, this is where it gets interesting.

Fin.