Disclaimer- Ryoko, Tenchi, and all other related characters and 
material belong to Pioneer entertainment. They do not belong to me, nor 
do I claim any such ownership. All other unrelated material does belong 
to me. ^-^

Chapter 5: The Battle of Ages
By: Spectre

An eerie ominous silence fell over them all, sweat poured off 
their brows like bullets escaping the barrel of a gun. The twin 
warriors stood their ground, rigid and ready for attack, their hearts 
pounding within their chests. Before them the stolen image of Kagato 
smiled, controlled by the spirit of Kiseichu. As his lips curled an 
evil laugh escaped them, echoing through the cavernous walls.
"And what of the GTDF? Why not let them join your futile 
attempts, that is what they came here for isn't it?" Ryoko's teeth 
grinded together as a low growl escaped her lips. He was taunting her, 
trying to make her loose her cool. She knew from experience, that that 
didn't take much, she had to hold on as long as she could, for Tenchi. 
Kiseichu turned his head to look over at the officers, grouped together 
in the corner, unable to produce any sort of attack without their 
weapons. As he scanned over their faces, his grin grew wider, his face 
gave off an impression of his prediction of the acts that had separated 
them from their leader. "But what is this? What of the young Ichiro, I 
do not seem to sense his presence. It's too bad really, I was looking 
forward to killing him myself, but it seems that someone has done that 
for me." Ryoko's eyes widened with fear as his face turned back to her, 
beaming with evil delight. "Wouldn't you say.Ryoko?"
"R-Ryoko, what does he mean?" Tenchi's skin grew cold as a wave 
of chills ran down his spine with each word. He hardly noticed his 
absence, but then of course, he never did like Ichiro anyway. Now when 
he looked around he finally noticed his disappearance in the ranks. His 
lips trembled, trying to from his words while the thought sank into his 
mind. Ryoko was a ruthless space pirate, he knew that, but ever since 
she came to live in the ranch, she had never dared to do anything 
remotely like that in front of him. Could she have? Had she really.? 
His mind raced, he wasn't sure what to think, instead, he waited for 
her reply, praying to here her deny it all.
Ryoko stood there, the rage building up overflowing and mixing in 
with the surprising presence of fear. The fear that had swelled within 
her so many times before, the fear that she would lose Tenchi forever. 
Before she could answer and stiff voice broke in, laughing slightly 
between his words.
"Ah, so you haven't told him! Tell me Ryoko, why do you keep this 
boy in the dark? Is there something to loose, something to be lost 
between you?" Then, she snapped, the anger took over, the rage swelling 
up, controlling every movement in her body. She had no control, tears 
streamed from her eyes as she screamed in the night. The awesome power 
of rage and emotion let loose and propelled her forward, sword ignited 
and poised in front of her. The energy backflow sent a powerful blast 
behind her, nearly knocking Minagi off her feet and flying into the 
wall behind her. 
Immediately Kiseichu ignighted his sword on firmly held it in 
front of him, just in time to clash with Ryoko's, sparks sent flying 
from the impact, raining upon Tenchi and the rest of the onlookers 
around them. As the tears streamed down her face all the hate within 
her conformed to words, sobbing as she spoke.
"BASTARD!! I'll KILL you! I swear it!" An evil hiss rumbled 
within his throat, forming a low-pitched laugh, chilling her bones.
"Ahhhh, struck a nerve did I? Perhaps I should dig deeper, maybe 
he'll give himself up.for you!" Ryoko growled and pushed herself 
further, leaning the clashed blades closer to Kiseichu's face, singing 
the hairs on his head. Still, his grin did not flinch; his laugh only 
grew louder. "Tell me Ryoko, could it be.love?" Ryoko's eyes, once 
clenched with rage shot open in an instant, the single word dug deeper 
into her heart than any blade ever could. As her emotions sunk in, her 
grip and stance slowly loosened, drawing the blades back over to her 
side. "That filthy human weakness you call an emotion? I've heard of 
your escapades before in the past Ryoko, this is not like you. I would 
never expect you to fall for such a disgusting plague upon man!" 
With that, Ryoko's will was suddenly broken, snapped apart by the 
taunting words of her opponent. With her strength failing, Kiseichu's 
blade broke free from it's tight grip and crashed forward, sending 
Ryoko flying back, a sharp burst of blood spurting from the gash 
forming across her shoulder.
"Ryoko!" In a reflex, Tenchi began to move forward to help her, 
but was sharply pulled back. As he looked over his shoulder he saw 
Washu's firm grip on his shoulder, and a stone look on her face. She 
didn't even have to move her head, Tenchi knew what she was going to 
say. Even though he didn't like it, he had to let her fight for her 
own. Inside himself, the fear grew, he felt for her as he did the rest 
of them, even though she could be a pain sometimes, he was not about to 
let her die.
Ryoko shot back and flung her arm up to her wound, holding 
pressure upon it to try and stop the flow of crimson blood that leaked 
from her body. Her hand soon became soaked in the liquid and began to 
divert the flow down her arm and into her sleave, chilling her skin at 
the touch. The pain ripped through her body as she held her sword 
forward with her remaining arm. She could not give up, no matter how 
shattered her body or will was, she would not let any harm come to her 
beloved. 
"700 years sealed on Earth has given you some disgraceful 
characteristics Ryoko. Have you know honor to face me full force?" 
Ryoko's attention was brought to her own power, the power given to her 
by her gems. Even though she only had one, she knew quite well what she 
could do. Ryoko let her arm fall to her side and her blood soaked fist 
clenched hard and strong, letting her sword extinguish and fade. "What 
are you doing? Draw your sword!! DIE WITH HONOR!!"