Washu sat on the floor of her cell, hugging her knees to her chest. All the memories from her past were flooding through her head. The barrier that had held them back was now gone and she remembered. She remembered everything. “Are you okay?” Washu looked up to see her daughter’s concerned face. Washu laughed slightly, “I’ve never seen you look concerned for me before.” She said quietly. “Well I’ve never seen you looking so frightened and confused.” Ryoko kneeled down in front of the laser bars. “If you are a god, couldn’t you simply get out of this cell and get us all out of here?” Washu laughed bitterly, “I’m starting to remember my past, unfortunately, I can’t remember how to use my powers.” “Hmmm.” Ryoko’s eyes seemed lost in thought. “What are you going to do though?” Washu asked her daughter. “Nothing.” Ryoko simply said, “I don’t have my gems, so fighting will get me nowhere. And Matthius made me promise not to get involved in the fight. He said that if I gave up Tokimi would let me live. So I promised him I wouldn’t get involved in the battle between him and Tenchi.” “So now you know what Tenchi must feel like.” Washu smiled slightly. “Yea, I guess I do a little bit.” Ryoko sighed. “I think this is a little more serious than what he normally deals with though.” “You don’t want them to fight.” Washu stated. “No I don’t.” Ryoko sighed, “I don’t want to see either of them get hurt. But there’s nothing I can do.” Ryoko clenched her fist at the end, “I feel so helpless.” She stood up and avoided her mother’s eyes, “I hate that feeling.” Washu nodded but said nothing. “What are you going to do?” Ryoko looked down at Washu. “There’s nothing I can do right now.” Washu stated simply, “I’m going to have to comply with Tokimi’s wishes. I have no other option right now.” Ryoko nodded, “I sure hope Tenchi can figure out a solution to all this. No matter what happens, we’re not looking at a happy ending here.” Washu nodded, “I sure hope so.” “What will you do Lord Tenchi?” Aieka asked as she watched Tenchi pace back and forth. “I don’t know yet.” Tenchi bit his lip. “I don’t want to fight, but I don’t seem to have a choice. And even if I do fight I won’t want to win. And I don’t know what to do about Sasami. I’m not even sure if Matthius was telling us the truth, Tsunami won’t answer any of our questions. I have to defeat Matthius without killing him, save Washu and defeat Tokimi so we never have to worry about her again. I don’t think I can do it all by myself.” Tenchi sighed, “I wish grandfather were here.” “We’re all willing to help you Tenchi.” Kiyone walked in with Mihoshi. “Yea!” Mihoshi said cheerfully, “We’re a team! No one can stop us! We beat Kagato, Dr. Clay. And well I guess that’s it.” Mihoshi trailed off thinking. “But that’s still impressive.” Kiyone smiled encouragingly, “I’m sure we can work something out.” Tenchi smiled, “Yea, we’ll faced worse right? We can overcome this.” “Right!” They all agreed. They entered Tokimi’s territory shortly after the conversation over the com screen. Tenchi and his friends stood on the bridge looking in awe at the small planet they were heading to. They planet seemed to be nothing but water. There were small islands scattered about, but the bulk of the planet was water. Tenchi wasn’t even sure if it counted as a planet considering how small it was. The only thing on it was a large palace in the middle of everything. It was an impressive site, standing at least 200 feet high and probably a mile wide. It seemed carved out of gold, or some metal similar to it. There were spire towers around the palace, all with domed tops. Bright white lines ran throughout the entire structure forming a barely noticeable criss-cross pattern. It was beautiful, But it houses evil. Tenchi reminded himself. “Land somewhere around here.” Tenchi commanded Kiyone and Mihoshi. The two GP’s nodded and set the ship down on a small island. They all walked out of the ship and looked toward the castle. Tenchi pulled on the ring on his finger and transformed into his Juraian battle armor, Aieka followed his example. “What now?” Kiyone asked checking her blaster. Tenchi turned to Sasami, “You’re going to stay here, Sasami.” Sasami opened to protest, “No arguments.” Tenchi said firmly, “We don’t fully know what’s going on regarding Tsunami, and I don’t want to take any chances right now.” He turned to Kiyone and Mihoshi, “The entrance will probably be guarded. I’ll need you two to distract the guards so Aieka and I can slip inside. Once inside,” he turned to Aieka, “I’m going to go find Matthius, I’ll need you to find Washu.” “Alright.” Aieka nodded. “I’ve got some bigger guns onboard.” Kiyone said walking back into the Yugami, “I’ll be right back with them.” Tenchi nodded, “You alright, Mihoshi?” He turned to the teary eyed officer. “I’m a little scared.” She whimpered, “But as long as Kiyone is with me I’ll be okay.” Tenchi nodded, “Ryo-Ohki, I want you to stay and protect Sasami, if anything goes bad, get her out of here and back to Jurai.” Ryo-Ohki meowed in understanding. Tenchi sighed, “Well, here we go.” He said turning toward the palace. Kiyone came out with two large rifles, and one very big gun that somewhat resembles a Bazooka. “Now we’re ready.” She smiled and handed a rifle to Mihoshi. Tenchi began walking toward the castle but stopped, “Um, how exactly are we supposed to get there?” He turned to the others, “Anyone?” They all looked at each other with confused glances. “Ah, my servants have finally come through with my prize.” Tokimi’s image floated above them. “My dear sister, it has been such a long time, how are you?” Tokimi smiled as she stared down at the diminutive Washu. Washu looked up at her, her hands were cuffed and sealed in metal gloves, she had a collar around her neck with a leash that Dr. Clay was holding, and her ankles were chained together as well. “I’ve been better, sister.” The last word was bitter and sarcastic. Tokimi chuckled, “Yes, well I do wish our reunion could be under better terms, but fate is rather amusing I suppose. You do know why you are here, don’t you?” Washu nodded, “Your champion informed me of my purpose here.” Tokimi smiled, “Good, then I’m sure you’ll understand why this reunion will be cut short, I want you to get to work immediately. Dr. Clay and some other selected scientists will be assisting you. Now, go!” Clay bowed, “As you wish my lady.” He tugged on the leash and lead Washu away. Tokimi turned to Matthius, “So, why is Washu’s champion standing before without any form of restraints? Why is she still alive?” “She has surrendered, my lady.” Matthius said while bowing, “She has agreed not to fight you or myself and to give herself to me. She poses no threat anyhow, considering she doesn’t even have the source of her power.” Tokimi was silent for a moment, “Is that all?” She said her voice betraying a hint of anger. Matthius swallowed hard, “No.” He said simply, he raised his eyes to meet hers, “I do not want to see her get hurt.” Tokimi said nothing but did not seem too pleased at the information being presented to her, “I did not send you to that planet to for that. You were sent for one purpose and only one purpose.” “I know.” He lowered his gaze and said nothing else. “Very well.” Tokimi said after a moment, “But if she gets in the way of my plans, she will not be the only one who suffers.” “Thank you, my lady.” He said and turned to leave. Ryoko followed him out but stayed silent. “They are already here, you know.” He told her after a moment. She nodded but said nothing. “I’ll take you to someplace where you’ll be safe. Remember, don’t get involved in the fight between me and Tenchi.” She nodded and still said nothing, Tenchi. She said quietly in her mind. Ryo-Ohki dropped the group off in front of the large temple and then flew off toward the island they had been on. Five of Dr. Clay’s robots were guarding the entrance. “Okay gang.” Tenchi turned to them. “Kiyone, I want you and Mihoshi to keep all the robots and whatever else is around here busy. Aieka,” He turned to her, “I want you to find and free Washu and Ryoko.” He smiled, “I know you probably don’t want to save Ryoko, but please do it for me.” Aieka smiled and nodded, “I will, Tenchi, don’t worry.” He nodded, “Okay, let’s get going.” The Tenchi-Ken came to life and he charged the robots. The robots turned and saw him coming, but Kiyone and Mihoshi destroyed them all before he even got to the entrance. Without pausing, he kicked to temple door in and charged inside. Aieka and the others were inside a moment after Tenchi. They followed the hall down until it became a large domed chamber, the walls were covered with pictures of some woman that Tenchi thought was familiar but couldn’t quite place. Tenchi turned to the left and looked down the hall, “Matthius is that way.” He said and began walking down the hall. “Tenchi!” Aieka called after him. He turned and looked at her, “Please, be careful.” She said a little more quietly. He smiled and nodded and then disappeared fomr their view. “Where to now?” Kiyone looked around. “I believe I’m going to go straight ahead.” Aieka began walking. “I guess we’re going right then.” Mihoshi said. The two GP’s turned and went the other way. Tenchi walked down the hall for only a short while. He turned to his left again and walked out onto a balcony. It was a half circle with a door at the other end. He noticed a nearby tower with a window and another window directly above him. He walked over to the rail of the balcony and looked down. The balcony jutted out of the building; there was nothing below it except for water. Tenchi suddenly realized how far up he was, he didn’t remember going up any stairs or anything similar to that, but somehow he had gotten rather far off the ground. “Nice view, eh?” Tenchi spun around and saw Matthius; he was dressed in dark gray armor that coiled around his body like a snake. In his hand he held a pure white blade, it was at least four feet long, the handle was white as well, with a little gold inlayed in it, it seemed to glow faintly. Tenchi wasn’t sure if it was made out of energy or not. “Nice.” He agreed warily eyeing his opponent. “Well,” Matthius walked over to the rail and looked out at space for a moment, “you know why we’re here.” He turned to face Tenchi and frowned, “You’ll never be able to defeat me with that.” He motioned to the Tenchi-Ken, “You’ll have to use the power of the light hawk wings.” Tenchi said nothing but got in a defensive stance. “So you’re going to fight me like that?” Matthius shook his head, “Have it your way then, well, attack me!” Matthius got into a defensive stance. Tenchi desperately tried to summon the light hawk wings, he could feel them, but they were just out of his reach. “Why do we have to fight?” Tenchi demanded, “Just because some goddess wants us to? You don’t have to do this, Eric. I can help you, we can help you, but only if you help us.” Matthius smiled, “Tenchi I told you, I have no choice in this.” “Then why do you seem so eager to fight?” Tenchi demanded angrily, “For someone who has no choice you sure seem to be looking forward to this!” “I must admit I’m eager to see what you can do.” He smiled again, “Besides, Tenchi, I have a plan.” “What’s that?” Tenchi asked cautiously. Matthius smiled, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. But I can say that if you don’t attack me, I’ll have to attack you.” Tenchi sighed, took a deep breath, and charged Matthius. Kiyone cursed her luck, but then she always did. They had only taken a few steps before what seemed like an entire army of robots appeared and began firing at them. Of course with the guns she had gotten off the Yugami they could now shoot through the shields the robots had, but they were still outnumbered, badly outnumbered. “Stop it!” Mihoshi yelled firing around the corner, “You’re all under arrest!” She cried and then began to recite their rights. Kiyone sighed, they had retreated back to the round room they were in before they had separated and had so far kept the robots in the hallway. “Mihoshi, they’re robots, we don’t arrest robots.” “Well, we should.” Mihoshi said firmly. Kiyone fired a few shots around the corner and heard an explosion. She sighed, “I hope Tenchi and Aieka are having better luck than we are.” Aieka let loose a bolt of power that sent two men dressed in black flying into the wall, they fell to the ground and did not move again. She let a sigh of relief escape her; she had run into almost a dozen of the men. They were all dressed like executioners. Black pants and long sleeved shirts and black hoods so she could not see their face. She was thankful for that little bit, if she saw their face she wasn’t sure if she would be able to hurt them like she was. She had searched through at least six rooms so far and not seen any clue as to where Washu might be. She took a deep breath and continued. Tenchi charged, Matthius stood there smiling, Tenchi brought the sword down with all his might, and Matthius merely moved one hand to knock the blade away. Tenchi stumbled back, but quickly recollected himself. He charged again, the time swinging at Matthius’s midsection, again Matthius simply moved his sword to block Tenchi’s. Tenchi attacked again and again, and Matthius blocked all of them without any effort. Tenchi jumped back and tried to catch his breath, this wasn’t looking good. Matthius frowned again, “This is the last time I’m going to give you the chance to use your light hawk wings. You have ten seconds before I attack you.” Tenchi bit his lip and tried to summon the wings, he could feel them at the edge of his conscious, but he couldn’t get a grip on them. He shut his eyes and tried harder, and still nothing. “Time’s up.” Matthius said. Tenchi opened his eyes in time to see Matthius fly towards him, Tenchi didn’t have time to block, Matthius elbowed him in the jaw and sent Tenchi flying back and skidding on the ground. Tenchi pushed himself up and blocked the sword that was coming for his head. He could feel blood dripping off his chin. Matthius pushed down hard, but Tenchi managed to hold his ground. Matthius then kneed Tenchi in the stomach, Tenchi doubled over and spit up blood, Matthius then punched Tenchi in the side of the head and sent him rolling onto the ground. His head was spinning and his ears were ringing, but Tenchi managed to push himself up again. He wiped the blood off his chin and got in a defensive position. Matthius laughed, “Come on Tenchi! You think I enjoy just knocking you around like this? The least you can do is put up a decent fight!” Tenchi said nothing but charged again, Matthius jumped over him, Tenchi turned around to face him, but before Matthius even landed he kicked Tenchi and sent him flying across the balcony. This time Tenchi did not get up. Tenchi floated in darkness, he was still in his Juraian battle garb, but it was covered in blood. He held the Tenchi-Ken loosely in one hand, and looked around vaguely. Then one thought hit him, I lost. Tenchi was shocked, he had never lost a fight before, whether it was at school with a bully or with Kagato or Clay, he had never lost a fight. What was going to happen now? He didn’t know. Suddenly laughter filled the void he was floating in. The bodies of his friends and family suddenly appeared. Ryoko, Aieka, Sasami, even his father and his grandfather. All their bodies floated in front of him. “You failed.” A feminine voice crackled, “You failed and all your loved ones will suffer now.” The voice began laughing. “No!” Tenchi cried angrily. The voice laughed even harder and louder than before. “No!” Tenchi yelled again, “I won’t let that happen!” He focused all his energy and he felt them, the light hawk wings. Matthius was walking away, Tenchi was defeated, he knew Tokimi wanted him to kill Tenchi, but he could not bring himself to do so. Especially when he was unconscious. He sighed and wondered briefly what was going to happen to him since he had disobeyed Lady Tokimi’s orders. He paused, he felt something, something. He spun around and saw Tenchi floating off the ground, the three light hawk wings in front of him. Tenchi opened his eyes as two of them passed over him and covered him with the light hawk armor. He floated to the ground and formed the light hawk sword in one hand. “I won’t let that happen!” Tenchi said angrily. “What?” Matthius began, Tenchi charged him at full speed. Matthius barely brought his sword up in time to block, as the two swords collided lightning shot out and blew holes in the balcony and the nearby tower. Tenchi pushed and Matthius stumbled back a few steps, Tenchi pressed the attack and swung the sword towards Matthius’s midsection, Matthius blocked and kicked Tenchi in the stomach, Tenchi took a few steps back and nimbly jumped to his left as Matthius’s sword flew in to skewer him. Tenchi lunged in, Matthius blocked, Tenchi brought up his arm to block the elbow coming toward his face. He then took a step back and then launched into the air. Matthius watched him ascend, Tenchi’s sword began a bright white ball and he launched it at Matthius. Matthius jumped back just as the ball struck the ground and blew a huge hole into the balcony. Matthius brought his hands together and unleashed a pinkish/purplish beam. Tenchi formed a shield in his right hand and blocked the beam. Tenchi then teleported back to the ground, reformed the sword and attacked again. Matthius jumped aside and unleashed another beam of energy, Tenchi deflected it with his sword and charged Matthius again. Matthius charged as well and the two clashed and sent more lightning striking the tower and balcony. Matthius and Tenchi both jumped away, Tenchi pointed his sword at Matthius and a white beam shot out of it. Matthius was obviously surprised, but managed to deflect the beam with his sword. “So you’ve learned to use your full powers, eh?” Matthius grinned, “Well I guess I won’t hold back anymore.” The comment surprised Tenchi in more than one way, he was simply acting on instinct and anger, he didn’t know what the beam was he had just known that it would fire if he willed it. He was also surprised that Matthius was still holding back, Tenchi was going all out, and though they seemed even Tenchi know suspected the fight not might go as well for him as it had been. “Looks like you’ve improved, boy.” A familiar voice taunted. Tenchi spun around and his mouth dropped open, Kagato stood before him with his green blade. “But, but, I killed you!” Tenchi said in surprise. “Now it gets interesting.” Matthius said flying at Tenchi. Tenchi spun around and blocked Matthius’s sword, Kagato attacked at the same moment, Tenchi formed a shield on his other arm and blocked Kagato’s attack. Matthius and Kagato attacked, all Tenchi could do was block their attacks, he had no time to counter, he was puzzled though, when he had brought the wings to bear against Kagato before, he had made short work of him. Now Kagato was fighting him equally. Tenchi had always been afraid that Kagato would come back even more powerful than before. And that’s when it struck him, Matthius had said that Tokimi could make dreams and nightmares reality, and since Matthius had her powers, he could probably do the same thing. Tenchi cursed, if that was the case, Matthius could summon up all of Tenchi’s worst fears and have them all attack him. The two continued to press Tenchi until he finally took to the air, Kagato followed him, but Matthius again stayed on the ground and began forming another beam. He dodged to the left as Kagato’s sword tried to pierce him, Tenchi spun and drove his knee into Kagato’s back, the evil scientist’s mouth opened and Tenchi wasted no time pressing his advantage and drove the light hawk sword through the back of Kagato’s chest. Tenchi managed to move just in time to dodge the beam that Matthius had fired. Tenchi flew down and slashed at the ground, Matthius jumped back and Tenchi merely sliced through the balcony. Tenchi charged Matthius again, but Matthius jumped high into the air and prepared another blast. Tenchi smiled and vanished. Matthius looked around, where the hell had he gone? He suddenly felt something behind and above him, he spun around to see Tenchi bringing the light hawk sword down, all Matthius had time to do was unleash his blast. The blast hit Tenchi in the chest and sent Tsunami’s knight flying back, but Tenchi had managed to bring the sword down and give Matthius a long gash down his chest. Both combatants fell to the ground, Tenchi began having seizures on the ground. Matthius pushed himself up. Blood was flowing out of the wound Tenchi had given him, normally his armor would heal any such wound, but it could not heal the wound the light hawk sword had given him. His nerve blast had done what it was supposed to though. The blast affected a persons nervous system, sending pain throughout the entire body and basically paralyzing whomever it hit. Just one of Tokimi’s powers he could use. He walked over to the convulsing prince and looked down at him angrily. No one had ever scored such a hit on him before. He kicked Tenchi across the face and sent the prince sliding, he cursed the moment after he did it. Tenchi pushed himself up, any sort of outside contact like the kick brought the victim out of the paralysis. Tenchi held the light hawk sword in front of him, he began pouring as much energy into the sword as he could. Matthius saw what he was doing and began doing the same. After charging their weapons for a few moments, the two warriors charged each other intending to finish the fight. Aieka opened what had have been at least the twentieth door, and gasped in surprise. The room was a huge laboratory, in it there was at least five scientists, including Washu and Clay, they all looked over to her as she kicked open the door. “What the?” Clay began angrily, “Get her!” He screamed to the other scientists. A barrage of laser blasts came at Aieka, she gave a small shriek and jumped out of the room. Now what? She tried to think, she had finally found Washu, but how was she going to get her out of there? Suddenly screams erupted from inside the lab, Aieka paused for a moment and then peeked in. “What took you so long?” Asked an irritated Washu walking out of the lab. “Well this place is rather large, you know.” Aieka muttered. She saw the other scientists cut in half on the ground, Clay was among them, “Uhm, how did you do that?” She asked the small scientist. Washu grinned, “Well I have remembered a few things about my powers.” She laughed, “Clay had a device that would have kept me from using my powers, but he was too arrogant to use it.” Washu walked out of the room and looked around, “Come now. We have to go and get Sasami.” “What?” Aieka followed Washu, “Why do we need Sasami?” “Well we don’t really need Sasami, we need Tsunami.” “What? Why?” Aieka got angry when Washu didn’t answer, “Is what Matthius said about Tsunami and Sasami true? Will Tsunami take over Sasami?” Washu still didn’t answer and Aieka placed herself in front of Washu. “Answer me!” Washu looked up at Aieka, “I honestly don’t know.” Aieka’s face dropped, “Oh.” Washu began walking again, “Now come on, we have some very important things to do.” “But, Tenchi told me to find Ryoko.” Aieka said. “Don’t worry about that.” Washu said in an off-hand manner, “What we are going to do is much more important.” Kiyone was muttering some choice words and cursing her luck as Aieka and Washu walked into the huge domed chamber. “What seems to be the problem?” Washu walked over to the hall where the robots were still firing. “Washu!” Aieka and Kiyone both yelled. The barrage of lasers hit Washu’s shield and did nothing, “Hmmm, such useless tools.” Washu said, she waved her hand and the robots exploded. “Now, we need to get Sasami.” She began walking toward the exit. “What just happened?” Kiyone looked at Aieka. “I have no idea.” Aieka said quietly. “Hey, we won!” Mihoshi said cheerfully. -Hmmm. nothing to say really so.