Chapter Ten
It was all so confusing.
Zakari leant back against the worn stone pillars that flanked the entrance to the old feudal castle, gazing upwards into the hazy blue of the sky as he shielded his gaze from the penetrating amber sun. A shadow flitted overhead, followed by the gentle sound of something landing nearby, and he turned his gaze, eying his companion pensively in the bright midday light.
"I still don't know if this is the right thing to do." He said quietly, and she turned, casting him a playful smile as she dropped down beside him.
"You worry too much." She scolded. "Besides, I told you. I'm not going to let you die on my watch, and nor am I about to let everyone on Heiwa get blown up because you've never been taught self control. My solution is the only one going – you better face up to it and accept it."
"Asking for help wasn't exactly on my agenda." Zakari hauled himself upright, dusting himself down as the particles of sand and soil clung to his skin. He frowned, feeling the strange prickles of energy within him, and he shook his head. "And I'm not sure you're thinking as clearly as you could be. I've already tried to kill Washu and the chances are that I'll kill you, too. I don't think that going to the Earth is a good idea, nor do I think that your Washu will even want to help, after the confrontation we already had. It's a hopeless situation. You'd be better off letting me just die."
"We both know what happens if I do that." Ryoko shook her head. "At best, you blow this settlement to the ground. At worst, you blow the whole planet into smithereens. Listen to me. The last time a planet exploded, it let loose a demon who was bent on killing people I care about. I don't really know if there are any more sealed demons in this solar system, but I don't want to take the risk. And besides, when Kihaku exploded, noone was living there. This is different. They might hide away in domes and cringe from the sun, but there are people on Heiwa."
She hesitated, softening her voice as she took him gently by the hand.
"Your Komei might be one of them." She said quietly, and despite himself Zakari flinched, gazing up at her in consternation. Ryoko nodded.
"If you are like me in any way, you won't want to put her in danger. Regardless of what becomes of you." She said matter-of-factly, dropping his hand and settling herself on a wind-weathered lump of rock as she gazed at him in earnest. "And I know from what you've said that that is how you feel. So we're going to try my way of doing things first. I mean, if it doesn't work out, you can still revert to your self-combustion plan. I won't be able to stop you, after all. But at least this way you might have a hope of stopping this. And wherever you choose to die, you're going to have an impact on someone. You said yourself that the impulses are getting stronger. If you brought me down as easily as you did on the moon, that's pretty scary magic."
"I suppose you do have an odd kind of logic." Zakari sighed. "You confuse me, but I'm glad you didn't choose to leave. Not yet, at least."
He eyed her pensively, then, "Take my hand, Ryoko. We're not going to stay on Heiwa any longer. If you want to come with me and risk your safety, then that's your choice. But I won't put Heiwa under any more threat, so we're going to take a trip across space."
"A trip?" Ryoko eyed him doubtfully. "Do you mean you're going to teleport us? In your condition? Are you nuts? I never let anyone mess around with my molecules."
"But you don't know where we're going. Only I know how to get to the planet where I confronted Washu before." Zakari said sensibly. "It's deserted and there's noone there to kill if I should accidentally implode it. It's quicker and safer than taking my spaceship - remember, time is of the essence, and my ship's hyperspace drive is more likely to upset my body than a brief flit through space under my own steam...I learnt that coming back from my encounter with Washu-san. Besides, you might be strong, but I doubt you can teleport across whole galaxies. You're just not capable of wielding that kind of power. If you were, you'd be in my situation, too."
"I guess you have a point." Ryoko gazed down at her hands, then she sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to trust that you know what you're doing, then. But once we get to this abandoned rock of yours, well, then I'm going to call Ryo Ohki to come meet us. All right?"
"All right." Zakari said reluctantly. "Though if I hurt her, Ryoko…"
"Ryo Ohki has regenerative capabilities. Unless by some fluke you broke her power gem, she can't easily be killed." Ryoko shook her head.
"Then why were you so concerned about her?" Zakari looked startled. "When you first came round after our fight, you yelled at me like crazy because I'd stunned her!"
"Because Ryo Ohki can feel pain, you know." Ryoko snapped back. "She might be part mechanical but she's part organic and she has feelings and thoughts of her own. She's my sister – we're connected psychically, and when she's hurt, I can feel it too. You frightened her, when you attacked – her fear was so strong it almost paralysed me, also. That's why. Ryo Ohki's not a machine either, Zakari. Of all people, I thought you might understand that."
Zakari stared at her, taking in the look of hurt and anger on his companion's features. Then he sighed.
"I'm sorry. You're right." He said contritely. "It didn't occur to me, but you're right."
"And don't you forget it." Ryoko told him curtly.
"Are we leaving, then?"
"One second." Ryoko nodded. "I just have something I need to retrieve from the lab first, that's all."
"Something?" Zakari stared at her. "Like what?"
"Nothing that concerns you. Something that I need, that's all." Ryoko shrugged. "Hang on just two ticks – I'll be back before you know it."
Before he could react, she was gone, and Zakari sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he waited. Impatience and apprehension swirled within him, mingling with the flickers of dark energy, and he sighed, biting his lip as he contemplated his chances of teleporting them both safely across space.
"But I have to, so that rules out any room for doubt." He muttered. "Ryoko might be crazy, or very naïve, thinking that this Washu person might be able to help me. I'm still not at all sure about trusting that woman, and I'm still going to be on my guard around her. If I need to kill her, well, then I still will, no matter what Ryoko thinks about it. If I discover Washu Hakubi was involved in my enslavement, then I'll make an even trade and sacrifice her life along with my own. But…"
He faltered, his brows knitting together as he contemplated.
"But if she wasn't involved, and if Clay worked on his own, then maybe I shouldn't be hasty." He added slowly. "If Washu did build Ryoko, and managed to stabilise her life energy so easily, it seems strange that she should have failed with me. I'm confused about what it all means, but I suppose the scientist in me is going to see it through to the end. Whatever that end is."
The call of his name alerted him to the fact his companion had returned and he met her gaze, a slight smile touching his lips as he made his way across the stone to join her.
"Still, at least it's nice to have someone who doesn't consider me a monster, even though she knows who I am." He acknowledged. "I only hope I'm not going to wind up hurting her for placing that trust in me."
"Aren't you coming? I thought we were on a deadline!" Ryoko's quizzical tones broke through his reverie and he nodded, quickening his pace and grasping her firmly around the wrists as he focused his energy on transferring them both to the small abandoned outpost where he had laid his trap for Washu. As they re-materialised in the planetoid's dusty atmosphere, wild flickers of whiteish magic flared up around his arms and Ryoko pulled away from him with an exclamation, sending a forcefield up around herself as she did so.
"Watch what you're doing with that." She scolded him. "I'm on your side, remember? And this body is far too beautiful to be chargrilled."
"I'm sorry." Zakari looked troubled. "I didn't mean to. But transferring us…"
"Oh, stop it." Ryoko shook her head. "I was trying to lighten the mood."
She offered him a slight smile.
"It's not often I meet someone who's more out of control than I am, that's for sure." She added complacently. "It's quite a change. Washu is always calling me emotionally unstable, and it really bugs me. But I guess it's better to be that than physically unstable. Considering."
"Trust me, you don't know how lucky you are." Zakari told her ruefully, as with a tremendous effort he managed to quell the flaring light. "It leaves you none too sane, this magic, either. When it washes over me, I'm not really in control of anything."
"Well, if you are somehow part Kii, like me, I guess that follows." Ryoko looked pensive. "Kii magic makes you a bit nuts, if you go by my mother and her dotty sister...Hey!"
She frowned, looked thoughtful, and Zakari shot her a sidelong glance.
"What?"
"Her sister." Ryoko muttered. "I should have…maybe that explains why your science is so full of holes. Clay worked for Washu's sister, Tokimi – and he did so for a very long time. She was as mad as a hatter while the magic ran through her – who knows what she made him do. Washu would never make a flawed specimen if she could help it – she'd rather die. She's rough on my flaws, and between you and me, I don't think I have all that many! But Tokimi…Tokimi and Clay…I think I've solved the missing link in the chain!"
"I'm glad you have. I'm still in the dark." Zakari pursed his lips. "Tokimi...who is Tokimi? And what magic...what are you talking about?"
"Washu's adoptive sister. Tokimi, the last Priestess of Kihaku - before it was destroyed." Ryoko settled herself on the rough terrain, pulling him down beside her and shooting him a companionable smile. "Down here. You're meant to be conserving that energy, after all. Anyhow, I don't understand all of the science, and I honestly don't care. All I know is that Tokimi was under some kind of...I suppose you'd call it a spell, and it made her a bit crackers. She started trying to kill people - with my Tenchi right at the top of her hitlist. Clay was her agent - when he died, he was still in her service. Don't you think it's possible he made you from a piece of her? I mean, Tokimi doesn't know the first thing about science, and Clay was a plagiarising moron who couldn't even clamp a robot together without ripping ideas from someone else. Right?"
"I see." Zakari's brow creased. "I didn't know Washu had such a sister. Clay mentions no Tokimi in his notes."
"I guess he wouldn't. If you believe Yume - I mean, Zero - he was frightened of her and what she could do. " Ryoko shrugged. "After all, I wouldn't want someone with the kind of power she had - or well, you have - on a rampage against me. It would be messy. I don't do messy. Not if I can help it."
"You think that its likely, then?"
"I think it might be. In which case, you're going after Washu on completely misdirected grounds." Ryoko sighed. "But either way, we'll know soon. I've just sent out a call to my ship...to Ryo Ohki. She heard me, and she's on her way. She'll follow my thought patterns, now we have a coherent connection. I don't know what it is about that lab of Clay's, or if it's that awful Heiwan atmosphere. But I couldn't keep a continuous link to her there, even without the cuffs on. Here she's much clearer in the back of my mind. I know she'll come."
"And she'll bring Washu with her?" Zakari asked softly. Ryoko nodded.
"Washu is with her now." She agreed. Zakari frowned, his eyes narrowing throughtfully.
"I see. Good." He said quietly. "I'm glad about that."
"I hope you're not going to make a second attempt on my mother's life." Ryoko said warningly. "My goodwill towards you will run out very fast, if you do. I mean it."
"You still call her mother. Do you really feel that strongly towards her?" Zakari eyed his companion quizzically, and Ryoko sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"If I knew how she viewed me, I'd answer that." She said at length. "But I guess there are times all girls need a mother to look up to. Even space pirates like me."
She sent him a crooked smile, and despite himself, Zakari found himself returning it.
"If you tell her that, I'll deny it." She added, the impish sparkle back in her golden eyes. "But it's true nonetheless. She's part of my family, and even if she is a crazy, I don't want her killed. So keep your explosions to yourself for a while, huh? If everything works out as I hope, nobody need die at all. And I can go home and sleep in my bed - or even better, Tenchi's bed - without worrying my head over some unsuspecting planetary population somewhere in the depths of space."
"You really aren't any kind of an assassin, are you?"
"Nope, not me." Ryoko shook her head. She shrugged. "I told you. Messy. Not my thing."
She paused, then offered him a more serious smile.
"I don't want you to die either, as it happens." She said lightly. "Because I've not ever met anyone quite like me before, and it's been nice to know I wasn't the only one. I mean, even though it's been rough on you, and all - I still think it's nice to know. You know. That you exist too."
"I agree." Zakari leant back on his elbows, gazing up at the stars that glittered high above them. "You're not like anyone I've met before either, Ryoko - but you're a revelation all the same. Washu-san should be happy about how you turned out. She has a lot of things to be proud of."
"Maybe she does." Ryoko said reflectively. "But I doubt she'll ever acknowledge it."
She shrugged her shoulders, settling herself more comfortably on the ground.
"Oh well. I guess that's just life, isn't it. You win some, you lose some."
"You really don't know how true that is." Zakari sighed, gazing at the tongues of translucent energy that lapped at the edges of his nails. "I suppose all we can do is wait and see just what it has in store for us next."
"You look so apprehensive."
"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep the flares under wraps." Zakari admitted. "It might be better if you seek cover - at least, keep your distance from me. Just in case."
"That does destroy the point of not being scared of you."
"No, but Ryoko, I've seen one woman hurt because of my curse." Zakari said flatly. "Don't let me see another one struck down...all right?"
Ryoko stared at him for a moment. Then she smiled, nodding her head as her amber eyes softened with comprehension.
"I understand." She agreed quietly. "But I won't be far away. And I will be watching, so make sure you don't do anything crazy. All right?"
Zakari did not respond, watching as she flickered and blurred out of view, settling herself down on the roof of one of the abandoned military buildings to wait. He sighed heavily, turning his gaze back towards the skyline.
"I hope she's right about this." He muttered. "And that they arrive soon. I'm getting more unsteady by the minute - it may already be too late."
----------------
"Woah, Ryo Ohki!"
Washu stumbled, almost losing her footing as the spaceship suddenly lurched between her, sending Tenchi tumbling to the floor as she veered suddenly off at an angle, letting out a series of earsplitting calls as she did so. Across the other side of the ship, Yume shrieked, grabbing hold of the navigation panel and gripping it tightly, struggling to right herself as the craft showed no sign of slowing down.
"Ryo Ohki, can you give me some warning when you're going to do that?" Tenchi asked plaintively. "I thought you only swerved like that when Ryoko was piloting, but I guess you don't need her to break the speed limit."
"What's gotten into you?" Washu murmured, as Ryo Ohki's reflection glittered in and out of the hovering crystals above her head. "What is it, Ryo Ohki? Have you made a connection with Ryoko - is that it? Do you think you know where she is?"
Ryo Ohki emitted a joyful yowl, the crystals glowing and hovering towards her pro-tem pilot as she did so, and Tenchi gazed up at them in hope, scrambling to his feet.
"Ryoko?" He repeated. "Washu, is that what she's found? Is that why she suddenly hared off course like that?"
"I think so, though I can't communicate with her so easily when we're in flight." Washu turned, shrugging her shoulders. "It's the only thing I can think of, though, that would explain such a complete turnaround in her demeanour. She's been sluggish and depressed ever since we left the Earth - now she's going faster than even Ryoko at her most wild would probably choose to pilot her - I only hope she can keep it up. With the damage she sustained on the moon, I'm not sure that she's quite as streamlined as she usually is."
"So long as we don't hit anything, that's all I ask." Yume put in, casting her mentor a rueful smile. "I may be discovering yet another brand new human sensation, Washu - I feel distinctly disorientated."
"It's the speed at which we're travelling. It's probably upsetting your circuits." Washu told her with a grin. "Although if you want to think of it as space-sickness, be my guest. Sit down, Yume...just relax. I can't make Ryo Ohki go any slower, because I don't have Ryoko's control. And the poor girl is obviously in quite a frenzy - so I guess that she must have picked up Ryoko's vibe."
"We're heading back towards that same sector of space again. The place we were when that man attacked you." Yume glanced up at the navigation screen, shielding her eyes from the glare of a nearby star as they whipped by its range. "Maybe Ryoko was there all the time."
"If she had been, wouldn't Ryo Ohki have sensed her before, when we went there?" Tenchi asked.
"Good point." Yume sighed. "I guess my circuits are scrambled. Sorry."
"Its all right." Tenchi dropped down beside her, shooting her a warm grin. "Do as Washu says...Ryo Ohki is going at a pace, and I'm not sure I'm all that steady, either. If it wasn't for the fact that Ryoko is probably at the end of this mad zip across space, I'd probably be sprawled out on the deck by now."
"Do you think she's in danger?" Yume raised her gaze to Washu, who frowned, shrugging her shoulders.
"Hard to say. If that Z guy is with her, yes." She said simply. "Even if he isn't attacking her, Yume, he's still a threat to her life."
"Well, I guess we'll soon find out." Yume sighed, closing her eyes. "When we get there."
Ryo Ohki let out an apologetic yowl, and Washu smiled.
"It's all right, Ryo Ohki. You do what you have to - we don't have time to waste." She said gently, patting the control panel. "Never mind those wimps. You know where Ryoko is, don't you? That's where we've got to go. Don't worry about Tenchi and Yume. Just follow the trail."
Ryo Ohki's crystals glittered than flared red at this, as the ship seemed to get her second wind, and Washu nodded approvingly.
"We really are entering that sector. Yume, you're right." She observed. "I think I can see the unique pattern of stars right up ahead."
"That looks familiar to me, too." Yume scrambled onto all fours, peering out into the darkness as at long last Ryo Ohki's pace steadied. "Oh, thank goodness! Ryo Ohki, I didn't know you could go so fast as that!"
"Why has she slowed down?" Tenchi wondered, coming to stand at Washu's side as he gazed out across the approaching solar system. "Is there danger? Is it a trap? Or is it...something else?"
"Look." Washu extended a finger, pointing ahead of them. "Do you see the light coming from that planet down there? That's where we're going. And that's Z's magic - I'd bet my reputation on it. It's flaring - but whether it's flaring to threaten Ryoko, or just of its own accord, I don't know."
"Going into it would be dangerous, if it engulfs the planet." Yume looked anxious. "Can we even think about landing, in light of that?"
"We have to land." Tenchi said firmly. "After that race through space, Ryo Ohki needs to take a break. And we won't find Ryoko if we hang about up here. If he's down there, she must be too. Even if he has made her lure Ryo Ohki into a trap, we have to go in."
"I couldn't put it better myself." Washu said grimly. "Okay, Ryo Ohki. Let's go into land...whatever we might find, we've got to get Ryoko away from Z before it's too late."
Ryo Ohki howled her agreement, careening down towards the planet's surface with dogged determination. As she hovered above the scorched landscape, beaming the three travellers down onto the sand below, Washu squinted across the skyline, hunting for any sign of life. From the air, she realised, Z's glinting flares of magic had been easily visible. But now, at normal street level, he could be concealed once more by buildings or debris that dotted the horizon, and she frowned.
"He's going to be harder to find from down here, isn't he?" Yume came up beside her, voicing her thoughts aloud, and Washu nodded grimly.
"But we have Ryo Ohki to help." She reminded her companion, turning to hold out her arm to the ship. Ryo Ohki mewed, glimmering as she transformed into her mammal form, leaping up onto Washu's shoulder and settling herself comfortably against the scientist's neck. Yume smiled.
"So we do." She agreed. "Well, Ryo Ohki? Can you still feel Ryoko?"
Ryo Ohki squealed, her amber eyes glittering with anticipation as she nodded her head. Despite the creature's evident exhaustion, Washu was aware of the impatience in her small companion's demeanour, and she frowned, lifting a hand to brush her fingers gently against Ryo Ohki's gemstone. A whirl of colours and images flashed through her thoughts, and then, somewhere deep in the darkness of Ryo Ohki's buzzing memory, she caught a faint whisper of energy. Her eyes widened.
"Ryoko." She murmured, turning to face the old military barracks. "She's here all right. Ryo Ohki's got her in her sights - and very strongly, too. I can't break through their communication, so I don't know what's being said between them. But I know that Ryo Ohki's got a lock on her thought patterns and I think she can lead us to what we're looking for. Ryo Ohki, don't be afraid to nudge me if I take a wrong turn, okay? I think I got a sense of where Ryoko is from your thought patterns, but I'm not as good at this telepathy game as the two of you."
"That way, huh?" Tenchi cast his gaze along the horizon. "I don't see anyone...you'd think that, if Ryoko wanted us here, she'd be around to meet us."
"If it's not a trap." Yume said apprehensively. "And she wasn't forced to bring Ryo Ohki here."
"I don't think so." Washu shook her head. "Ryo Ohki's excited but she's not tense. She's not worried about Ryoko's safety. You have to remember that whatever Ryoko might conceal in her facial expressions and tone of voice, she'd probably not be able to shield entirely from her thoughts. Ryo Ohki would know if she was afraid."
"I suppose we should take that as a good sign." Tenchi said reflectively. "You said it was that way. Are we going?"
"We are." Washu nodded resolutely. "Z's flares were getting worse, and I'm not sure how stable he is. Be cautious. And Tenchi, it might be that we call on your magic again, so be aware."
"I don't know if I can switch it on like that." Tenchi looked startled. "I only could before because your life was in danger, and when I came between you and him, my body reacted the same way as it did against Kagato or against the flare of energy Seiryo sent towards Mihoshi when we were his prisoners. I'm not sure I can count on it when I want it...it doesn't work like that."
"Well, you might have to chance it, Tenchi-kun." Yume said grimly, raising her hand to gesture ahead of her, and Washu turned, biting her lip as she registered the fact that the empty plain before them was no longer empty. Zakari stood before them, white flickers dancing around his body as he watched them approach, and Washu eyed his impassive expression, pursing her lips as she struggled to read his motives.
"I didn't get a chance to appraise him before he attacked me the last time." She muttered to herself. "But even if I had, could I piece him together? He seems agitated and confused - but about what? I'm not sure what to make of him at all."
"You shouldn't come any closer." At length Zakari spoke, holding up his hands, and white bolts of energy flared out from his fingers, singeing dark marks into the sandy ground as he did so. Yume let out an exclamation, taking a step back, and Washu frowned, aware that Ryo Ohki had dropped low on her shoulder, her tattered ears flattened against her head as she too assessed their companion.
"Where is my daughter?" She asked quietly, as the silence threatened to become overwhelming. "We know she's here, so don't tell us that she isn't, Z. I told you before that I wanted her back. What you're doing is madness. You must know that all you can do is hurt her, if you continue like this. Her and other people around you."
Zakari did not respond, and Washu registered the faint glittering of his left eye once more, as he surveyed each one of them.
"Zero." He murmured softly. "I was right. It was you I saw. You hide your true self, but I still recognise your face."
"And I yours, now Washu has located the memory within me." Yume said levelly. "Stop this, Z. What Clay did to you was wrong, and I'm sorry for my part in it. But I've left my life with him in the past, and so must you. Ryoko's done nothing to you, and you shouldn't involve her in something that isn't her fight."
"You had better not have hurt my fiancee." Tenchi added, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword and the blade flared into life at his secure touch. "I'm not a violent person, but I won't have harm come to her. Whatever axe you think you have to grind - you should have kept her out of it."
"I want to know one thing." Zakari said quietly. "Washu Hakubi, tell me honestly, and know that I will recognise a lie as soon as you speak it. Did you charge Clay with creating me? Are you the one responsible for my existance? Tell me, and tell me now."
"I didn't even know Clay had done more than manufacture Zero." Washu said succinctly. "I might have birthed Ryoko in a laboratory, and I won't pretend I didn't. But I didn't know you existed and I certainly had nothing to do with it. Even from this distance I can tell your body is unstable - that's bad science and whatever else I am, I am not careless with my work. Please, give me some credit for perfectionism. I would never have created someone like you."
Zakari's eyes narrowed at this, and the white light intensified around his aura. Tenchi frowned, raising his sword.
"Don't even think about hurting Washu again." He warned. "You know already that I can stop your magic, and I will again, if you try. So you might as well not bother."
"Tenchi, put the sword away."
At that moment Ryoko flickered into view, dropping down gracefully onto the ground between Zakari and his opponants. She set herself neatly in front of her would-be kidnapper, and as Washu shot her a startled glance, Ryo Ohki leapt down to the ground, bounding across the landscape towards her mistress. Ryoko laughed, bending to scoop the small ball of chocolate fur up in her hands, and Ryo Ohki rubbed happily up against the pirate's fingers, licking them liberally before jumping up onto her shoulder.
"You were a good girl." She murmured. "Coming when I called you. I'm sorry I worried you...I know you must have been scared."
"Ryoko?" Tenchi stared at his fiancee in consternation, disbelief in his brown eyes as his grip on his weapon faltered. "What do you mean, put it away? You can't...are you...what are you saying?"
"I'm saying nobody is going to fight." Ryoko stepped forward, putting her hands gently on Tenchi's shoulders. "You should understand, Tenchi. You're the one who likes to look for the peaceful solutions if you can. Listen to me. I don't want you to fight him."
"But...he kidnapped you!" Tenchi protested. "He abducted you...didn't he?"
"Yes, he did." Ryoko agreed, turning to send Zakari a pensive glance. "But really, Tenchi, trust me, will you? He couldn't fight another battle, even if you goaded him into it. All it would do is blow up this world and probably all of us, too. He's unstable - very unstable. He hasn't got the control over his magic to prevent a disaster - it's taking him everything he has right now not to send out huge waves of energy."
"Ryoko." Washu eyed her daughter in wonder, and Ryoko spread her hands.
"I asked Ryo Ohki to bring you here because I want your help, Washu." She said evenly, releasing her grip on the bemused Prince's shoulders and approaching her mother decidedly. "Zakari was Clay's creation. He was to Clay what I am to you - his weapon. But Clay messed up - and Zakari is going to die if nothing is done. He took me prisoner, true enough, but he never intended to hurt me. And he hasn't. Not really."
"I can't say the same." Washu said quietly. "He would have killed me, if Tenchi had not intervened."
"Well, it keeps you on your toes. I thought you were used to death threats by now." Ryoko said flippantly.
"Maybe, but that doesn't usually endear me to helping someone."
"You seem only too happy to help Tokimi or Seiryo Tennan." Ryoko said pragmatically. "Listen to me, all right? You're probably the only person smart enough to do anything about Zakari's condition, if anyone even can. He's already hurt people without meaning to, and we both know that if nothing is done, this magic will flare up and kill him. It could take out this planet, or even more planets - we don't know how much damage it could do, or how many people it could kill. He came after you simply because he thought you were the one to blame for everything he's been through, and some of it I understand. I've never had to face my mortality, but I do know how it feels to wonder if you're just someone else's puppet. So I want you to help him. If for no other reason than you owe it to me to do it."
"Owe it to you?"
"For all the years I grew up not knowing if I had a mother." Ryoko said frankly. "Right up to today."
"Ryoko." Tenchi held out his hand to her, and with a smile the pirate took it, squeezing it tightly.
"You understand, don't you, Tenchi?" She murmured. "He's one like me. I can't...can't just walk away and let him die, because he's one like me."
"I think so." Tenchi nodded. "But Ryoko, I was so worried about you. You know that, don't you? I was frightened...I didn't know if you were all right."
"Well, now you know I am." Ryoko told him with a smile. "And I'm glad to see you, Tenchi-kun. More than you know."
"Ryoko called you Zakari." Yume took a hesitant step forward, eying their companion with curious eyes. "You called yourself Z, when you spoke to us. Which are you? Really? Zakari or Z?"
"Which are you? Yume or Zero?" Zakari countered. "Ryoko has told me about you, and your reprogramming. It must be convenient, to have such a mind...a mind which can forget and change enough to adapt to anything and everything."
"We were both creations of and prisoners of Clay's will." Yume said softly, holding up her hands in a gesture of peace. "And if Washu will help you to overcome his influence, I will do all I can to assist her. I owe you a debt for the things that went before, if nothing else. Washu, I think Ryoko is right...and that we should do as she says."
"Yume?" Washu stared at the robot, not comprehending, and Yume offered her a faint smile.
"Playing God with DNA began this whole mess. In a way, you are guilty." She said quietly. "Clay did steal your notes, after all. Ryoko might have been your direct project, but both Z and I are indirectly here because of your work. Ryoko is right. You do owe it...not just to her, but to yourself. You said you didn't want to be responsible for the death of another planet, after Kihaku died. Well, if you do nothing now, you might well be. He's dangerous - you know it as well as I do. You might be able to stop the inevitable - can you really stand back and let a man die?"
Before Washu could answer, Zakari let out a cry of pain, dropping to the ground as flares of white magic ripped across his body, dancing and flickering upwards like tongues of electric flame. His fingers clawed the ground, as if trying to restrain the power from within him, beads of perspiration forming on his brow as he fought tooth and nail against the magic's will.
"You should leave this place. Leave me. All of you. Now." He gasped out. "I can't hold it any longer...it's too late. It's too...too late."
"No it isn't. Stop being a wimp and get a grip on yourself." Ryoko instructed, pulling away from Tenchi's grasp as she flickered out of view, re-materialising inches from her fallen companion. "We're not doing the dramatic death scene just yet...so hang on in there."
"Ryoko, get away from him!" Washu exclaimed, alarm flooding her green eyes as she registered how true Zakari's words had been. "He's right - it's getting stronger! He's going to blast you to pieces if you don't get back here...don't let him hurt you!"
"I spent a lifetime avoiding Galaxy Police blasters. I think I can handle a little power surge." Ryoko said frankly, gripping Zakari around the wrist and fumbling in the folds of her gown, grinning in triumph as she found what she was looking for. Something glittered in the light of Zakari's growing flare, and Ryoko set her teeth, fumbling with her prize as she focused her attention on Zakari's arms.
"Ryoko!" Tenchi exclaimed, but Ryoko took no notice, repeating the curious gesture with Zakari's other wrist. She drew a deep breath into her lungs, grasping him tightly around both arms at once, and then releasing her grip. As she did so, the flares of light began to flicker and die away, and Zakari dropped heavily to the ground, his breath coming in uneven gasps as he struggled to bring his body back under some form of control.
"What the...?" Washu darted forward, and Ryoko turned, meeting her gaze with a playful one of her own.
"Prison cuffs." She said simply. "Clay used them to restrain him, when he was a prisoner at the lab. And he used them to prevent me from using my magic. I don't know whether they can hold Zakari's strength indefinitely, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. And if we're going to take him back to the Earth, we need to do something to keep it under wraps. So I thought...well...why not?"
"Well, well. There is some of me in you after all." Washu's eyes flickered with amusement, and she rested a warm hand on her daughter's shoulder, gazing down at the collapsed form on the ground beneath them. "That was sharp thinking. I'm almost surprised you came up with the idea on your own."
"Thanks." Ryoko grimaced at her. "You will help him, won't you, Washu? He might have gone nuts and done some crazy things, but I don't want him to kill himself. He's not really bad - just messed up."
Washu frowned, then she nodded her head.
"Yume spoke the truth." She agreed, dropping down at Zakari's side and placing a finger to his throat, feeling the man's racing pulse beneath his skin. "This is indirectly my fault, and my problem to fix. So I'm game to try. I don't know if I will succeed, but at least if I bring him to my sub-space lab, any disasters shouldn't affect the Earth. So I will try. Especially if it means that much to you, Ryoko."
"I think that Tokimi might have ordered Clay to create him. His magic is extreme, rather like hers was." Ryoko said pensively. "Do you think that's possible?"
"It's very possible. In fact, it's more than likely." Washu agreed, brushing sweat-damp wisps of Zakari's hair out of his face. "He's lost consciousness. He really was fighting it as hard as he could just now, wasn't he? That's why it hasn't engulfed him sooner. He's been battling it with all his strength."
"More so since he had me around." Ryoko acknowledged. "I promised him I wouldn't fight him again, but even when he released me, I couldn't just leave. He might have killed people - or worse, blown up a planet and unlocked another mad demon for us to deal with. I wasn't willing to risk it. I couldn't reach Ryo Ohki very easily from Heiwa - that's where Clay had his lab, and where Zakari first took me. But here, it was much easier to get in touch with her."
She cast the unconscious man a glance, then,
"I think he wanted help more than anything." She added reflectively. "It was nice to know there's someone out there with a more messed up background than I have."
"It might be a common background, you know." Washu said heavily. "It seems likely that Clay stole genetic samples from my secret lab to create this project of his, Ryoko. Kagato's gene material, to be exact."
"You mean...he might be my brother?" Ryoko stared at her mother in shock, and Washu shrugged.
"It's possible." She agreed cautiously. "Not for sure, but maybe."
"Perhaps that's why I felt so determined to help him, then." Ryoko sighed. "I don't know. I don't think I've ever felt quite so protective over someone before. It wasn't the same as when I'm helping Tenchi - Tenchi is stronger than I am, and he sure doesn't need my protection most of the time. But this guy...there was something else about him. He needed me to stay. So I did. That's all."
"We should get him aboard Ryo Ohki, and get going."
Tenchi's voice interrupted the conversation at that moment, and Washu glanced up, nodding her head.
"We should." She agreed. "Then I can take samples and see what I can come up with. It's going to be a long night's work, even with Yume's help. But I'll do my best to try, Ryoko. You have my word on that. I'll do my best to save his life, if I possibly can."
"Thank you." Ryoko's eyes glittered briefly with gratitude and relief, then she offered her mother a smile. "I really don't want to battle another Yugi any time soon."
"I'd like to just go home and get ready to celebrate my birthday, without worrying about imploding planets or unstable projects of Clay's." Tenchi admitted. "Ryoko, I'm glad you wanted to help him - and I do understand why you did things the way you did. But I'm more glad that he didn't self combust before we got to you. It was a big risk you took, you know. It might have cost you."
"Perhaps." Ryoko acknowledged. "I guess I just trusted my pirate luck. Nothing's managed to kill me so far...I figured there was a good chance this wouldn't be the time, either. And I was right. So all's well, and all that."
"Now that sounds more like my daughter." Washu's eyes sparkled with amusement. "All right, Ryo Ohki. Now you and Ryoko are reunited, it should be a smoother trip back to the Earth. Whenever you're ready - let's go home."