As Tenchi fell forward Ryoko deftly grasped the back of his jacket collar, before redirecting the boy's forward momentum to hoist his limp body over her shoulder. Keeping in tempo, she instantly teleported the both of them to the front of her mother's laboratory, and entered without so much as a knock. Seconds later, after passing through pure darkness, she was striding up behind the greatest scientific mind in all the universe; whom was neatly positioned on her usual floating cushion, although now placed smack in the middle of a massive recreation of two galaxies colliding.

Without even turning to greet her daughter, Washu merely gestured to her side, which produced two simultaneous effects: firstly, the simulation sped up for a couple seconds before slowing to a crawl; and second, a much larger cushion than her own materialized, "Huh?… Hmm, interesting… Anyhow, put him there, dear. And do try not to touch any of the stars while you're at it, or else I will have to start all over again."

The corner of Ryoko's mouth twitched some before following her mother's instructions. It was a pain in the ass weaving through the field of drifting miniature stars, some of which would collide and explode into brilliant particles. She laid his body down with a tenderness betraying her hardened demeanor, then turned ominously toward her elder, "So, you were watching?"

"How couldn't I?" the scientist exclaimed, slightly exasperated yet still not taking her eyes off of the encompassing spectacle of her study, "You were broadcasting the entire thing like some hyped up climax of your favorite drama! Poor Ryo-Ohki is doing her best not to cry over the whole thing!"

Ryoko's lips pressed tightly into themselves, disallowing any harsh retort; she had business to attend to, and time was of the essence, "I'll make it up to her later. But was it true? Did you know?"

"About the new wedding plans for our dear Prince here?"

"Don't call him that!" Ryoko hissed under her breath.

"As much as you don't like it, he is exactly that."

"But it isn't what he has to be."

"Either way," Washu sighed, waving a hand to pause the celestial show, and looking mildly amused that it actually worked; before stepping over to her new charge, checking over his body and summoning her halo-laptop, "He isn't completely wrong for thinking the plan set before him was the solution to all his problems."

"So you agreed to it?"

"Did I say that?"

"You aren't denying it."

Washu barely contained her groan, leveling her gaze at her newly upgraded daughter, "I thought I would let you kids figure things out. I can't solve all of your problems forever, and honestly that would be pretty damn boring. But if it makes you feel any better, I was going to side with you, no matter what you chose to do."

Ryoko felt herself smile, a small weight seeming to dissolve from her burden, "Uh, Yeah… Yeah, that does make me feel better."

"So, what is the next step in your big revolutionary plan? I only discerned a glimpse of raw hatred flash behind your eyes, something to do with overthrowing Seto?"

"That does sound like fun… but I have no interest in Jurai, or who rules it, just as long as it isn't Tenchi." Ryoko couldn't help but feel a small rush of eager glee, for the more she revealed her thoughts outwardly, the more they began to organize and formulate into a cohesive plan of action, "No, I don't want to overthrow that dried up devil, I want to challenge her. I… I think I'm going to contest her right over Tenchi's future, and who has a say in who he is going to marry."

"By what rights?" Washu interjected calmly.

"Excuse me?"

"This is a royal matter, dear, by what rights will you contest Tenchi's future?"

Ryoko's temple throbbed, again with the royal prerogative? Didn't anyone understand that just because Jurai claimed something, that doesn't give them the right to do so? "What the hell does that matter? Because it's unfair and she doesn't get to have whatever she wants!"

"Then she won't give you the time of day."

"Like hell she won't! I will stand in her path and not let the matter rest until she relents!"

"Wrong!" Washu shouted, causing all of the stars in the seemingly endless chamber to redshift, though maintaining a great control over the evenness of her tone.

Ryoko flinched at the shout and harsh surrounding visuals. If there was any being she didn't want to upset in all the universe, it would definitely be her diminutive mother.

Washu sighed again, closing her eyes and somehow returning the melee of celestial bodies to their rightful hues, "If you want to change Tenchi's mind, you can't just demolish anything standing in your way. You have to stand on some legitimacy!"

The former space pirate huffed at that, "Oh, right, I must have forgotten! I'm a pretty pretty princes too! I could just decree against her decrees!"

"Bingo!"

"Huh?" That wasn't a confirmation she was expecting to receive.

"Well, not a princess per say, but you do outrank her on the hierarchy of divine powers."

Inside Ryoko's mind a significant puzzle piece to this entire screwed up setting fell into place, bringing the picture assembled so far into sharp relief, "Because… I'm your daughter… The daughter of a Chousin."

"Not just that, but also my eldest living child."

"And Jurai worships Tsunami… And her sisters…"

"And guess who has seniority over the three Chousin!"

"You, being the eldest," a small smile crept upon the golden eyed beauty's luscious lips.

"Correct!" the pink haired scientist beamed, "Now, do you see why keeping your cool has its benefits?"

"And Tsunami has no daughters, nor does Tokimi. They both have chosen champions, or vassals of their power, but…"

"But you, Ryoko, you are the only one who is all of the above. You are vassal to my power through my gems, you are my chosen champion by way of specific design, and most important of all you are my daughter, in both blood and love. In short, should you ever come to the decision, you may become my successor."

Ryoko's heart faltered. Did she hear that right? Successor? "W-wait… now that I have all three gems again, I can… um, have to…?" She didn't know how she felt about this. To take her mother's place as a Chousin, that would mean near limitless power! But… wouldn't that too make life boring? She had no desire to rule, or lead, or oversee anything, let alone the lower dimension! No, all she wanted was to have Tenchi by her side as they experienced life as, well, relatively normal humans together.

Washu procured a knowing smile, able to read her daughter's thoughts with ease, and waved her hand in the air dismissively. Though this gesture had the undesired effect of restarting the collision simulation, "Ah! Crap!… Ugh, oh well… Anyway, no, you don't have to do anything! I gave you free will, after all! I just want you to be happy, whatever you choose to do. But, in case you ever wanted to try your hand at it, I gave you the most potential in all of creation."

"Alright," Ryoko sighed, this was a whole new ordeal to ponder over, and she was happy it could be shelved for later. Best to get her mind back on track and try to solve the current problem at hand, "Well, the thing I want to do most at this moment is put a stop to this decree over Tenchi's hand."

Washu didn't respond at first, instead checking data on her halotop and making the bed Tenchi was resting on musically vibrate from time to time. Then, with an annoyed look on her face, she addressed her daughter with all the disapproval of a frustrated teacher, "You do know that Tsunami favors the Juraians, right?"

This caused Ryoko's posture to stiffen while crossing her arms beneath her ample chest, "Yeah, and? My power is separate from Tsunami."

"And that through Sasami," the suppressed Chousin continued, as if her daughter's latest detail held no worth, "she also loves Tenchi."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"And here I thought you were learning to be more open minded…"

"Fine! Ughh!" Ryoko closed her eyes and focused on the hints her mother just offered up, all the while cursing her irritating habit of making every moment some weird lesson, "Ok… Tsunami loves Tenchi… Tsunami favors the Juraians… Oh…"

"Caught on, have you?"

"Tsunami has influence over anyone who uses her power, right?"

"Correct!"

"So… Through Seto, she might have hooked herself up with Tenchi? By means of Sasami?" Ryoko wanted to punch a hole through the fabric of space, both in this advanced simulation and among the real stars.

"Seems that way. Though I wouldn't try taking offense to that."

"Oh? And why shouldn't I?" As if this entire debacle wasn't offensive in the first place!

"Think of it from Sasami's perspective. She loves Tenchi too, but she sees you and Ayeka continuously vying for his favor, meanwhile he can't help but keep his eyes on Mihoshi's… assets, and to top it all off he just received a brand new perfect fiance fresh off the press from Jurai. Not to mention how I'm always whisking him away down here for hours on end," Washu added with a mischievous grin, which only caused her daughter to growl dangerously.

"Geeze, don't get your panties in a twist," the small scientist chided, rolling her eyes, "he is still very much a virgin. I might mess around with him, because as you well know it's nearly impossible not to, but I know you love him. So I'm not about to steal him away from you."

"Alright… fine…" Ryoko relented, though only halfheartedly. If she didn't have a ever diminishing window of opportunity to consider, this would have been a great time to screw with Washu's experiment, "So, what the hell does all of this have to do with… well, anything?"

"Oh, I can go on, then? Gee, how generous of you! Well, Sasami sees herself as the absolute last in line for Tenchi's affections, because she still has to wait to grow up while all of you are primed and ready to go. However, she shares a soul and body with Tsunami. And wouldn't you know it, she has an affect on how Tsunami feels and thinks too!

"Yet despite all of that, Sasami and Tsunami love all of us dearly. So Tsunami must have taken it upon herself to silently direct Seto to marry Tenchi to every one of us."

"Well," Ryoko started, poorly masking how interesting she actually found these conjectures, "that's great and all. But why does this matter? I'm still going to contest Seto's decision."

"Yes, but you need to approach the matter with some semblance of formality. Not just bust into her ship and start making demands."

"And I suppose you want me to figure out the reason for this too?"

"It would be greatly appreciated, and beneficial."

"Damn it… Fine. So, Tsunami has Seto's back. And if I attack her she will probably react. But all she has are some ships and the odd channeler of Jurai's power. All of which are nothing to me. What else could she do?"

"What else does Tsunami have that I have?" Washu posed, continuing to study her screen.

"That you have?… Umm… That you have… That she has… which could counter me… " She looked down at Tenchi, still very knocked out cold. Just then, two sets of stars collided above his body, one right after the other. First illuminating his face in pink, then in blue, "Oh…"

"Finally see the big problem, have we? Just as I have a champion in you, so does she in him. And in a fair fight, as you are now, he is your better."

"Damn it!"

"Though you could avoid a fight with him, you know, and just keep it between The Devil Princess and The Demon Caller."

"By treading on ceremony…"

"Wow, how convenient! There is a path already laid before you that could lead right to your goal, and no one you care about needs be hurt!"

"Alright, alright! I get it!" Ryoko huffed, not only angry at herself for not seeing this problem sooner, but also at Washu for taking so long to point it out to her.

"Oh, and one more thing, dear."

"I doubt it'll ever be just 'one more thing,'" The warrior muttered under breath with all the curling cinders of mutiny.

"Nope! But this is very relevant to your interests."

"Hm? And what is that?" She could use a little good news right about now, all things considered.

"In order to fully utilize the power of my… our gems, you will need to do something."

"Oh? Like what?" Ryoko expounded, exasperation weighing heavy on her voice, "Meditate at the edge of a black hole?! Or maybe slam two stars together and see what happens?!"

Washu blinked a couple times before merely shaking her head, "Nah, nothing so grand. It's actually rather simple, really. All you have to do is mature more."

"What? What's that supposed to mean? I'm already a woman!"

"I don't mean physically. I mean mentally. And emotionally."

"Oh? And How does that work?"

"Ryoko…" the genius seemed to pray for patience, "The gems do contain all of my power, but do you know why I made three of them?"

"Some asinine, pretentious reason, I'm sure."

"Sort of, yes, but it has a purpose. So no one could just abuse their power if they ever found a way to harness them, I implemented a fail safe. One gem encapsulates determination, one for intelligence, and one for love. If you can gain complete mastery over these aspects of yourself, so will you have absolute control over the seemingly limitless power of my being."

Ryoko had to process this new information for a minute. That sounded so simple! Yet, knowing her mother, and herself, it wouldn't be. She turned her wrists upward toward her gaze, staring intently on the boundless source of her power. Determination, intelligence, and love… That first one she had down, no problem. And she was pretty damn certain she knew what love was. Though Intelligence? She wasn't stupid, but she was head strong, and often acted without thinking things through. That was going to take some work.

After a long silence, broken up from time to time by the odd set of stars crashing into one another about the work station, Washu piped up, "So, will you take Ryo-Ohki with you right away? Or do you want to spend some time mastering your inner self first?"

The ex space pirate looked to her mother, then down at Tenchi's calm face, before straightening her features in concentration, "He won't be out of it forever. I need to get a head start on him before he figures out what I'm up to and tries to put a stop to it."

"Hmm… normally, yes, he will come back to his senses before too long. And in any typical setting your window of opportunity will begin to close at that time. However~," Washu chimed in a sing-song voice, "This isn't a typical setting, and the laws governing time and space are completely under my whim."

"…What are you getting at, Washu?"

"Oh, I think I want to test something out, is all. You see, even if you confront Seto, and come out the victor without mastery of your newly instated powers, and get her to renege on her decision backed by the divine, and postulate that only one of the Masaki household will marry Tenchi, do you honestly think that will change Tenchi's mind on the matter?"

Ryoko frowned, but was unable to convince herself that winning the fight she was prepping for would solve the young man's initial dilemma. All she could do was ever so subtly shake her head.

"Well, I might have just the thing," the small scientist announced proudly, before shifting tone, "for both of you."

"Alright, I'm listening."

Washu gestured next to Tenchi, where not only a double of the long floating cushion he was occupying appeared, but also all the stars in the path of her gesture jumbled and smashed into one another, causing the scientist to elicit swear after swear for a good ten seconds.

Despite her smile at this spectacle, Ryoko was suspicious. However time was of the essence, so she took the invitation and quickly phased herself onto to soft device. With the tiniest vibrations, quieter that a hummingbird, the twin cushions began to glow softly, shifting between a small array of different colors. After giving her some time to let off, the former space pirate sent a silent inquiry to her mother, and was answered verbally.

"It's an invention I was working on, of course; though this bed was intended to help those in need of psychological healing. You see, once a subject falls asleep on these cushions, it can be used to keep them in a constant state of dreaming, without the risk of mental or physical deterioration. And beyond that, the subject of these dreams can be controlled, adjusted, and redirected. I was envisioning this device to be a new means of helping those stuck in a coma, or to provide aid to people who are traumatized.

"Though there is no reason why a perfectly healthy person can't utilize this device to live out a fantasy. Or better yet, teach another their point of view. You see, sweety, these cushions can be linked together, allowing two minds to experience the same dream." And just like that, her mount floated around so that the back of Tenchi and Ryoko's heads nearly touched, before the twin cushions merged with one another at their point of contact.

Ryoko had to admit, this was a rather useful new invention. Just imagine what she could come up with! "So… can you keep Tenchi stuck in a dream right now?"

"Yes! In fact, I have already done so. The moment you laid him so tenderly before me I activated the device's stasis function. We just need to prep up a simulation and then he will be ready to participate."

"Great… I think I do want to do it your way. Let's slow down time in this dimension, and prepare a dream world where Tenchi would be susceptible to learning something new, and I can learn patience just a bit better."

"Wow… you sure are quick to jump this time."

"Huh? Oh… well, this time I really need to get something done, and I want it to work at any cost. This doesn't mean I'm going to be a willing guinea pig in the future. It's just right now I trust you… and I believe Tenchi has been led astray and I need to save him."

"You know, people do change, dear. Or at the very least experiment with new concepts."

"Matrimony isn't a fancy play thing to experiment with. Well, unless you are Seto, apparently."

"Hmm…"

"What now?" Ryoko was growing impatient. Yes, the flow of time could be altered here, but she still wanted to get to work while her motivation was still red hot!

"Oh, it's nothing, at least not for the moment. So, what sort of world am I going to build for you two? A war torn planet? A period piece? Oh! You do like gangster films, maybe something set in America?"

"Uhh…" shit, all of those sounded like fun! Damn it, she would have to come back to them later, though, "Maybe some other time… Hmm… Damn it, let me think for a moment."

"Take all the time you need," the mother allowed, returning to her prep work.

Alright, a place where she and Tenchi could learn together. Somewhere to test both of them in specific ways. They were both so set in their ways, though! And she didn't want to drastically alter either of their personalities, only see things anew. Damn it!… This would have been so much simpler if things hadn't gotten so muddled up. It was way easier when it was just the two of them, not that that happened for very long…

Wait, hadn't she wished for that very thing for years now? What would things have been like if only her and Tenchi had more time to bond, before Ayeka showed up and complicated things? Where she could tease the boy about being a real demon for a few days, or weeks, or even months; before boarding him onto her star ship, and revealing all the truth!

And going beyond that, she used to dream that she could get out of her cave long before Tenchi had set her free. And the two could have had adventures all over the woods, and eventually see the world together. Back when he was a kid. When he would have been so easy to get along with… When it would have been much easier to teach him something…

"Washu?"

"Yes, dear?" Washu answered with a knowing tone.

"I'm going to give you some very specific instructions."

"I'm already on it. Just feed me all the details and it should be ready to go in no time."

…

She just had to close her eyes. That's right; it would be okay if she drifted away from it all. A change would come, she knew it, and it would be so welcome. She must never, never give up hope. Gentle, drifting, light, floating… her mind was leaving, finding a better place… a better place… better…