A Dream Unrequited

Chapter 11

Find Your Way by Moonlight


All characters and settings are property of Funimation, not the author


Howling, the hulking form of Idneous flew through the air and skipped across the floor before slamming into the wall at the far side of the laboratory, denting the plasteel plating. Washu panted, sweat dripping down her face as she wheeled herself into a shizentai, her arms loose at her sides, fists half formed as she rocked on her heels. 'I can't keep this up forever… I need to end this…' She furrowed her brow and took a deep breath, feeling her muscles ache from lack of use. 'Too damned long since I've worked out…' An uneasy look crossed her face. 'Am I out of shape? Have I been flaunting a flabby body at Tenchi this whole time?'

Another growl of fury snapped her out of her thoughts as Idneous pounded across the room, fists raised and his shoulders squared, looking less like a man than a raging elephant. As he brought one gnarled hand up to drive Washu into the floor like a nail through wood, she slipped into his body, hooking one foot behind his leg and wrapping one hand into the wiry material of his plug-suit at his neck and with an internal grimace cupping his crotch with the other. As his massive bulk plowed into her, she bent at the waist, allowing his natural inertia to lift his hulking frame from the floor and direct his entire mass towards the floor head first.

Sasami heard the satisfying crunch of bone connecting with steel and couldn't help but grin as she faced down the gently hovering Eygon, her body tagged here and there with purpling bruises. With a grunt she tossed herself aside as another slab of rubble shot past, propelled by the mental grip of the slender man before her. Her pistol was lost amongst the rubble, her beamsword useless at this range and the cannon she had modified was drained of power. She cursed inwardly as she danced aside once again, this piece of concrete and steel rebar skimming her side, causing her to cry out and eliciting a sick little giggle from Eygon.

"Oh this is so much fun." He drawled as she shot a fierce glare at him. "Run and skip little rabbit, our game will end soon enough…" Eygon flexed his hands, his palms facing up and furrowed his brow. The air around him began to waiver as if his thin form was radiating heat and with a thin lipped grin he thrust his body forward, sending a wave of power tearing towards the woman. As the barely visible rush of mental force ripped across the laboratory Sasami threw herself aside, rolling to her knees behind one of the few surviving desks, seeing she was near the entryway of the lab.

She frantically searched the area for something to use, some kind of weapon or tool to counter the onslaught of Eygon's telekinetic fury. She winced as a filing cabinet smashed against the wall a scant meter from her cover, papers and folders flying around her like frightened birds. As she brushed a dot-matrix spool of arcane characters from off of her head, her eyes landed on a brushed steel box with a pair of straps attached to it and she crab-scrambled forward, trying to maintain her barrier from the assault. She puffed in breath as she unclasped the latches on the box, her eyes lighting up as she saw the contents within.

"Come and play, come and play little rabbit…" Eygon crooned, running his tongue across his teeth, tracing a reversed arc through the air in front of him. Half of a table from within the rubble began to lift, trailing dust and debris as it floated into the air. He spotted a shock of turquoise hair and his eyes went wide as with a flick of his wrist it shot forward, screaming through the air. His grin faded as instead of a delicious crunch a metallic clang echoed in the space. His eyes went wider as he saw a red and chrome hand clutching the edge of the table, wrinkling the thick metal.

With a smirk Sasami stood, the contents of the steel box fitted to her hands, trailing braided cords back into the confines of the open rectangular box she had slipped onto her back. The mechanical gauntlets she wore hissed with hidden pistons as they released the absorbed energy of the impact. A gyroscopic disk set inside the steel box began to spin and whine as she pulled her arm back then launched the table forward as if weightless. As it drew close to her intended target it almost audibly screeched to a stop, hovering midair as power waivered around it.

Eygon laughed, lifting his arms together in front of himself and 'grabbing' the table before him and pulled his hands apart violently. With a tortured shriek the molded steel table shredded into scraps of razor-edged shrapnel, each winking shard floating for a moment before falling as he saw Sasami standing just in front of him. The desk she had hidden behind was gripped between the mecha gloves, held like some kind of massive club over her shoulder. A slight smirk spread across her face as her eyes twinkled with malice. His face fell as he watched her draw the solid steel, six foot long desk back and whip it forward.

"Shi…"

The clang resounded through the ruined lab and Eygon crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, flying backwards to slam into a pile of debris. Sasami set the desk down with a clank, the face of it now sporting a rather sizable dent. She turned and saw Washu panting as sweat dripped down her face, giving her a slight smile and shooting her a thumbs-up. The scientist chuckled wearily and returned the gesture, starting gingerly forward to meet up with the younger princess, stepping over bits of her beloved lab.

"Not bad." Washu sighed out heavily, leaning backwards with her fists in the small of her back, cracking her spine with a series of muted reports. "Who, or rather what were those two?" She asked, wiping the back of her hand across her brow.

"I don't know… Eygon? Idneous? What kind of names are those?" Sasami wondered aloud, flexing her fingers in the metal gauntlets, making them hiss and creak as hidden pistons pumped strength into them through the braided cords. "Washu… the city…" She gasped, finally noticing the devastation beyond the crumbling hole in the wall.

More than half of the city was in ruins, what hadn't collapsed was burning or shedding concrete and plasteel paneling from meteorite impacts. The shower of meteors had slowed, but the azure fire that had shrouded the screaming comets had given way to orange and dark red flames that coughed up greasy black smoke in billowing towers, spreading out as they rose to blanket the city in an acrid cloud. Galaxy police shuttles buzzed through the air, claxons sounding as they fired missiles and cannon shells to intercept the meteors that still fell over the city. Sirens and screams wafted up the hundred stories to where Washu and Sasami stood, a chill riding up the scientists' spine.

"My God… What is happening?" She asked, stepping to the edge of the hole punched through into the lab, placing her hand on what remained of the wall as she looked out down into the city. Peering through the smoke she saw the streets boiling with bodies. The highways and roads below clogged with people and crashed shuttles, looking nothing less than a moving carpet of specks. Squinting down at the city far below she thought she saw masses of blue interspersed with the fleeing populace.

"Sasami… pass me that pair of binoc…" She stopped mid turn as she heard the rubble where Eygon lay begin to shift as he slowly lifted himself to his hands and knees, his head hanging at an odd angle. Letting out a strangled grunt, his head began to twist until his neck cracked with a sharp popping sound, the bones crunching together as they settled. He lifted his head to face the pair, growling through bared teeth as blood flowed down from his brow like a red mask to drip from his chin.

As he shakily climbed to his feet, Washu and Sasami readied themselves for his attack, their teeth bared and fists raised. With a sound like a cork being pulled from a bottle, Idneous slipped his head from the depression in the floor, shaking it back and forth like a dog as his skull filled out, bones crackling back into place as his skull fused together again.

Turning to stand back to back, the pair of women felt a cold sweat break out on their bodies as fear gripped them. The sound of molecular teleportation drew their attention, turning just in time to see a wave of golden energy wash over them. Sasami held out longer than her genius counterpart, watching through squinted eyes as the magenta haired woman reeled before her own vision turned to sparks of color and darkness as well. The blast sent both women tumbling against the wall of the lab where they slumped, their eyelids fluttering.

Sego stood in the ruined lab, panting heavily as the cauterized ends of his arms throbbed, swollen and inflamed. "We have to go… NOW." He growled, striding forward and waving his stumps at Eygon, his expression manic. "I. CAN'T. HEAL!" He shrieked, all poise lost in his fury and fear.

"No… We can't regenerate, we can heal… You fool, where are your arms?" The whip-like Tenchi double hissed, stepping forward and clapping a hand on his twin's shoulder. "You could have fitted yourself back together, but you can't replicate yourself! I WARNED you about that!"

"Heh, want me to lend you a hand there, Sego?" Idneous chuckled, sounding like a cement mixer full of rocks tumbling.

"SHUT UP YOU BUMBLING SIMPLETON!" Sego screamed, his voice high pitched and shrill. He hissed breath in through clenched teeth as he started towards the hulking beast. Eygon pressed a hand to Sego's chest, stopping him midstride.

Idneous snarled at the long haired Sego before a stern look from Eygon silenced him. He knuckled over to the pair, grinning wide then stopped and probed his tongue into the gaps in his grin. His eyes went wide as he looked pleadingly at Eygon. "Eygon! I lost some teeths!" His face twisted into a mixture of anger and helplessness.

"Look, I told you both that you had to be careful…" He rubbed his neck, making a face. "I… WE shouldn't have underestimated these people. And that boy is part of the Master as well… No wonder he's so strong." He shook his head, glancing over at the women still crumpled against the wall, watching as they began to stir.

"We need to go. The Master will know what to do." A thin lipped grin spread across his face as he nodded over his shoulder to the gaping hole in the wall. "Our brothers will finish this job till we can return." The others nodded and closed their eyes, letting Eygon place a hand on each of their shoulders. With a whiff of ozone and a sharp thunderclap, the three were gone leaving behind a small scorch mark on the floor where they had stood.


Her head spinning and ears still ringing with the sound of the trio teleporting away, Washu climbed to her feet with a groan. 'This whole unconscious thing is getting way too commonplace around here…' She thought as her body creaked and stung from the trials of the battle. She stood woozily, steadying herself as Sasami blinked awake as well, lifting a hand to hold her head.

"We need to find Tenchi and Ryo-" The wall access to her lab hissed as it turned translucent and Tenchi, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki plowed in, panting hard. "-Ko?" She finished lamely, a confused look spreading across her face.

"MOM!" Ryoko cried, rushing forward and stopping as she saw the wrecked lab, gasping sharply. "Oh my God, are you okay?" She asked swiftly, flying to her side in a flash.

Washu shrugged, making her wince as her back rebelled, tightening up painfully. "Not too much worse for the wear… Lab's seen better days though…" She looked from her daughter's concerned face to the fearful tension in Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi's expressions. "What's going on?"

"Tenchis." Ryo-Ohki replied. "Lots of 'em." She placed a hand on Tenchi's shoulder, looking over her shoulder at the now opaque wall behind them.

"Tenchis? More of them?" Sasami asked incredulously, not relishing the idea of having to fight more of the hulking Tenchi fiends.

"More? You mean you saw them too?" Ryoko asked, viewing the destruction wrought through the room. "Did they do this?"

As if in answer an echoing impact struck the wall leading back to the passageway. The five jumped and turned sharply to stare at the wall behind them, visibly shaken. Another impact resounded into the lab and an arc of power crackled across its surface, briefly giving a glimpse of the horror that waited beyond. The passage behind the wall was packed from side to side with Tenchi clones, moving in synch as they pushed and beat at the semi-permeable surface.

"We have to run…" Tenchi gasped, his skin taking on a sickly sheen as fear gripped him. "We have to get out of here."

"Where can we go?" Ryoko asked, spreading her arms wide. "We're trapped here and unless you've got a shuttle somewhere about your body that I didn't find, I don't see any way out of…"

"The mountain." Washu said in a soft, monotone voice.

"What?" The others asked, turning to face her.

Washu turned and ran towards the far wall of her lab. After exchanging a glance Ryoko, Sasami, Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki followed fast on her heels. As they tore across the ruin of electronics, chemical containers, failed inventions and forgotten plans a sparking explosion sounded behind them as the incessant pounding of the Tenchi clones finally broke through the access wall. Wave after wave of the clones walked in time over the wildly phasing rubble. More than one became trapped in a suddenly solid piece of the wall that had just been permeable, falling to the ground to be trampled without a care by its brothers, its stiff grin never fading as it was crushed under countless feet.

Redoubling their speed, the fleeing group met Washu near the rear of her lab, facing a bare wall. "What… the hell… Mom?" Ryoko asked as she slowed, breathing hard and glancing over her shoulder to gauge the ever dwindling distance between them and the clones.

Washu reached out, a bracelet on her wrist blinking gently as her hand drew close to the wall and passed through it. Pulling back a door surfaced as if from under water, the wall flowing back to reveal the portal. The door was light brown and curved at its apex with a very familiar black circle near the top. She turned the handle and opened the door, the opening filled with a near blinding light.

As their eyes adjusted, the crystal blue sky and emerald green forests of the mountain surrounding the Masaki shrine came into view. The lake below glistened and sparkled in the mid-afternoon sunlight, sending shimmering reflections against the home Tenchi grew up in as it rested near the pier.

"Go, now." Washu ordered, ushering everyone in. Ryo-Ohki nodded sternly and pushed into the light, pausing and leaning up to kiss Washu on the cheek, her armor flashing brilliant indigo in the sudden light as she ran towards the sanctuary they had all come to know as home.

Ryoko followed after, clapping her mother on the shoulder and nodding to Tenchi. "Come on, we have to go, they're not far behind now."

Tenchi turned, watching the flood of clones storm over Washu's beloved lab, reducing everything not destroyed by the battle between the feminine powerhouses and the titans of mind and muscle to worthless scrap. He clenched his teeth and furrowed his brow, shaking his head.

"No."

Washu, Ryoko and Sasami stared at him, their eyes wide.

"I'm not running…" He said, his teeth bared as he concentrated and drew a line of energy in front of himself with his hands, the line bursting to life into a broad beamsword. "This is connected to me somehow, and I'm not going to back down."

Sasami positioned herself beside him, drawing her own blade and flexing her free hand, the heavy metal glove hissing and whining as it powered up. "Tenchi…"

He glanced over at the young princess, who gazed back at him, her eyes shining. "Tenchi… Don't leave me again..." She said softly, making his brow furrow in confusion.

"I…what?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. With one motion her hand shot out, gripping his shirt and throwing him back, making him stumble into Washu, who grabbed his arms and held him fast. His blade shimmered into nothingness as his hands were wrenched behind his back.

"S-Sasami! No!" He shouted, trying to wrestle against Washu, wincing as she locked his wrists together.

"Washu, you take care of him, okay?" The young princess asked as the sea of Tenchi clones drew closer.

The magenta haired scientist nodded grimly as she pushed him into the doorway. "I will." She said softly, blinking away a tear that threatened her vision.

"Sasami! SASAMI!" Tenchi screamed, kicking and twisting in Washu's grip as he disappeared into the blinding light of the countryside he knew so well. His last glimpse of the lab before he passed the threshold was Sasami, standing stoically in the path of destruction. Her blade flashing in the glare of what lights remained in the lab and the mechanisms in the control box for her gauntlets pulsing as the flood of Tenchis broke against her like water over a rock.


"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Tenchi yelled again and again, pounding the rock cliff-side Washu's door had deposited them outside of. His fists plunged into the rock, reducing it to dust and shards as his skin split, blood dripping down to his elbow.

"Tenchi, stop it!" Ryoko cried, reaching out to catch his arms but pulling back as he rounded on her, his hands slinging splattering droplets of blood to the grass below their feet.

"WHY? Why did you let her do that?" He screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "She didn't have to do that! I could have helped! I could have fought! I could have…" He choked back a sob as he slipped down to his knees, cradling his cracked and bleeding hands in his lap as tears dripped from his chin.

Washu breathed out slowly through her nose, her lower lip trembling gently as she stood, facing the wall with her arms crossed. "It was her gift to you…" She said softly.

Tenchi sniffed and ran the back of his hand across his nose, smearing blood across one cheek. Washu turned to look at him, her eyes red and brimming with tears. "She's giving you time, the only thing she could." She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands and let out a shuddering sigh. When she dropped them back to her sides her gaze was steely and her face serious.

"If you want to fight this, you need to start. Right now."


Have issues with the story? Something you want to see happen? Find an error or grammar issue? Let me know! I'm not just writing for myself, but for you who are gracious enough to read the fruits of my imagination, so if there's something I can do to make the experience more enjoyable, don't be shy! Stay tuned true believers!