Dragonball Z / Tenchi Muyo - Rebirth of Rage

by SSJ Nate

What happens when the two most epic anime of all time collide? Love, Hate, Action, Chaos, and much more. New enemies, and old ones make appearances. Power is found where none was before. And ultimately, the final battle of good and evil will be fought. Wh

15. Zyroko's Turnabout Plans

Dragonball Z/Tenchi Muyo

Rebirth of Rage

Disclaimers -
1. All characters of Dragon Ball and Tenchi Muyo belong to the creators.
2. This fanfic belongs to me.
3. E-mail all comments, flames, questions, ect... to nateshannon@hotmail.com
4. This fanfic takes place after Vegeta becomes a Super Saiyan but before the Androids show up. As for Tenchi, unless they create OAV 3, this takes place right after the OAV of Tenchi.
5. This is a action/adventure and humor fanfic, and is rated 14A for language.
6. If you read it, please review it!

Chapter 15 - Zyroko's Turnabout Plans

Cities fell. Earth cracked open and sputtered. Planets titled. Stars plummeted like searing balls of hell. People murdered, corruption running rampant through more that just mankind. Evil being distributed like candy to the fruits of the world. And yet among all of these problems...creation had been given gifts to counteract such serious matters. Hope, as one might see, is the one undividing force that keeps even the most wretched from being consumed by anguish. It exists even in the hard, emotionless...the rich, the poor...the weak or strong. Gods or aliens, monsters with unfathomable strength and vile appendages. Everyone had hope. It existed like a seething serpent, hiding where even the dead would not dare dwell. Hope was a double edged sword keeping a man's soul from total torture, yet not allowing complete bliss and salvation either. It was essential not only to the human psyche, but to all things great and small. And even in a moment such as Tsunami was in, she realized that in all cases....she must keep on to...

Tsunami's lips silently spoke, the lips barely moving.

"Hope."

A gust of wind blew past Zyroko, his black whipping up around his face. He had taken quite some damage from those damn kids, what was this blue haired bitch going to do, he thought. After all, she had not gone through any sort of "training" like Tenchi or Ryoko might have done...

Zyroko's eyes focused on Tsunami, he wasn't taking any chances this time.

"So, it might seem that Misaki and Ryoko have given up their futile attempts, ne? It's good to see that at least someone is willing to put up with such an ordeal. Tell me, what do YOU plan on doing?"

Tsunami was steadfast, she had waited for such a moment ever since Zyroko's accursed presence had come upon the Earth. Her tight blue karate gi waved in the air in return, her drawn up twin ponytails fluttering back and forth.

She softly spoke to the vile man floating before her, "What I plan on doing is none of your concern...even if it does involve me killing you."

Zyroko smirked a bit, "I see the confidence sure does run high amongst you Jurains. I have to admit that damn Jurain Hybrid did put up quite a fight, and I would have absorbed his fighting power into my own..."

He bunched up his fists, "...but it seems like you and Washu have thought otherwise. *relaxes* It is no matter, I've waited thousands of years for this day to come. A few more hours will not prevent the inevitable. You are simply target practice until I see fit."

Tsunami looked down and began to adjust a pair of gloves on her hands, each one looking very similar to the pair worn by Tifa in Final Fantasy 7 (*please note, I obliviously don't own FF7 either :p*). The solid leather straps were buckled around Tsunami's knuckles, and she began to flex her arms to test their snugness.

Zyroko was a bit puzzled by this action; he spoke up again. "Listen, ignoring me won't do you any good either. What? Are you waiting for ME to make the first move? I can..."

Zyroko waved a finger at Tsunami, shaking his head in a 'no' fashion. "However, I feel as if such action would not make you too happy...I'd much prefer you to start first. That way, the pain you'll experience will be from my fists, not your emotions. Heheheeh..."

His gasping cackle cut through the air like a Vulture's screech, and Tsunami did not like it one bit.\

"If you do..."

Zyroko stopped, and strained to listen. When Tsunami talked, it was so damn quiet he could barely hear it...

"What was that?"

Tsunami turned her head up and stared into Zyroko's eyes. "...do that, and I'll make you suffer that much more. For every life you take, you can bet on feeling their pain ten fold. I am tired of this senseless pain and torment. If you give up now your life may just be spared..."

Zyroko raised one eyebrow, "And if I don't?"

She didn't even hesitate, "You die."

Zyroko was taken aback for a moment by Tsunami's abruptness, it was if she really and truly thought she had a chance. Her invincible attitude was beginning to get on his nerves...

He licked his lips, ready to go. "Is that so...well, I still stand by my previous remark. If you don't make the first move...I will..."

Zyroko raised his arms up in the air, opening up the palms wide to the sky.

"...gladly."

Tsunami realized what he was doing, "Stop this right now! You have absolutely no ide..."

Zyroko wasn't even listening to her, he concentrated on his own task. Calling from within his mind, the deep selections of his pre-programmed attacks. He sorted through a mental list of what he could perform, generously given to him by his late father. Ash...the perfect choice.

Ki waves began to spark around him, running up and along his body. In the center of his two hands held high up in the air a small pinpoint of energy began to build. Within a matter of seconds Zyroko had the ball of energy under his control, ready to go. The ball reached full size, easily two feet wide. It's yellow, glowing mass pulsated within Zyroko's grasp.

Tsunami yelled at the top of her lungs, "STOP THIS NOW!!"

Zyroko opened his eyes, looking for a brief moment towards Tsunami, an evil glint in his eyes appearing for a moment. Then he looked down towards the earth, many miles below. He choose a fairly large area, about 15 miles wide. He carefully locked on to every last life form he could detect in there...

"Ren...zo...kou..."

Tsunami knew she didn't have time to collect enough power to stop Zyroko, and tried to start running at him. She couldn't just watch him do what she knew he would, but as she moved, her pumping her arms to reach Zyroko...it all seemed to be happening in slow motion. In that one moment of desperation, she knew that it would be too late...

Zyroko's voice rang out like hammer on stone, "Rei..."

The last bit of power collected, Zyroko took careful aim as Tsunami gasped in horror.

Zyroko threw his hands down, releasing the gargantuan energy blast.

"SEN!!!!!!"

From the large energy ball, a near endless array of multi-colored beams shot forth. Zyroko's arms pumped back and forth as he fired blast after blast. Each beam, no bigger than a few inches, sailed down towards the earth like insects falling from the heavens.

Tsunami shielded her eyes from the blinding light, but she didn't need to see to know what was happening.

Each of the thousands of beams radiating from Zyroko's energy ball plunged towards the Earth. Each beam having its own locked on target, its own personal goal and victim.

A few seconds passed as the beams broke through the clouds....a pause that would live with Tsunami for the rest of her life.

Then it started, the first couple beams reaching impact.

*BOOM!* *BANG!*

With reverberating explosions each beam slammed into the Earth at full speed. Trees, rocks, animals, people, are were vaporized in a matter of seconds.

*POW!* *KABOOM!* *KAPOW!!*

Each of the beams were striking the place Zyroko had picked with horrid accuracy. Tsunami struggled to move, and began to fly down, aimlessly attempting to block some of the attacks.

"ZYROKO...NOOOO!!!"

She grabbed on to one of the blasts, focusing her strength into the burning ball. She gained some control over it, and pulled the ball of hot ki behind her head.

"Zyroko, when I say stop...I mean STOP!"

She heaved the blast ahead, making it go right back at its creator. Zyroko was busy letting his own blasts go, but managed to see the oncoming flashing ball of power coming up from below. The glowing mass was approaching fast, and if he wanted to dodge it...

Zyroko immediately cut the power flow to his barrage of beams to the Earth, letting the energy fade nearly instantly away. His hands free, he then pushed himself away, out of Tsunami's own beam. The ray of light shot right up to Zyroko, and barely nicked by his face Zyroko saw in that one moment the beam of destruction that he had created himself...come near close to taking his own head off.

The beam sailed upwards, and exited out beyond Zyroko's line of sight. Within a short amount of time, Zyroko knew the beam would be well out of Earth's orbit. The sky seemed to glow brightly from it, and then faded back into its normal blue color.

Zyroko shook his head. What had happened, thought. He had been blasting away at that small piece of land...Tsunami wasn't doing anything and he wanted to prompt her to. But...how did she take control of his own beam like that? He didn't think anyone could do that to a piece of the Renzokou Rei-Sen...there was certainly more to Tsunami than he thought, like Tenchi...

He looked down to where Tsunami had been where she grabbed on to his blast. But as he shot his eyes across the landscape....she was no where to be seen.

Zyroko blinked, "What the...? Where did she......oh, she's down THERE."

Zyroko charged up a bit, and began to fly downwards towards the Earth. In the place he had been firing on...

**********

Tsunami landed with a soft touch on the ground, and she panned her head from side to side. Though Zyroko had targeted an area only about the size of one city...the damage was immense and incredible. Craters and beaten up earth lay all about her. She sensed an extreme case of...unease...as if the area had just been cleansed of all the souls it once possessed.

She shivered, could one person really purge such a place of life like that? Shaking her head, Tsunami brought her senses back and continued to look around. She began to pick up a faint life somewhere...its ki was falling fast.

She ran over to a rock pile, and immediately knew that somewhere inside of it a creature was breathing its last few breaths. She began to tear at the rubble, ripping it to pieces.

A few rocks were lifted and pushed aside, their brown bodies breaking and crumbling about the beaten earth and ground around them.

Tsunami was lifted up rocks and boulders, trying to get down into. She peered inside, shifting from side to side to attain a better perspective.

The crumpled body of a little boy, his eyes glazed over with death. She wrested his body clear of the mound of rocks, almost gasping in shock as she felt his broken body. Nearly every bone had shattered, it looked as if he had been crushed by an onslaught of boulders.

Her hands shook, becoming sweaty. How could....he...

Tsunami held the boy's limp body close to her, "I don't believe this....even the smallest and most innocent don't escape him..."

A few tears ran down her cheeks, and she began to comprehend the seriousness of the situation. Zyroko was far more willing to do whatever was necessary to get a good fight going...she had no idea he would resort to taking out bystanders.

"A Kodak moment to say the least."

Tsunami snapped her head upwards, the sound of the voice all too familiar. She gritted her teeth, Tsunami's gentle demeanor disappearing almost instantaneously.

Zyroko floated down and landed a few feet beyond Tsunami. "So you see now...don't you wish you had made the first move now?"

Tsunami put the boy down, closing his deadened eyes with her hands. She turned towards Zyroko, a look that said sorrow, anger, and revenge.

"First MOVE? What was so 'first move' about that? The creatures in this area had nothing to do with US!"

Zyroko shrugged his shoulders, "You people sure do get tense about such trivial things. It was a mere showing of what I had to offer, who cares who ended up caught in the blast? The ends justify the means you know."

Tsunami didn't say anything, but rather continued to stare with eyes that nearly burned. Tsunami's loving nature was a double edged sword. It made her cherish life more than anything else, but seeing that life snuffed away made her feel something that she wished she would never ever have a need for: Hatred.

Zyroko made her hate him, and that alone could be no more disturbing than to anyone else but her. She looked down at the boy one last time...

Zyroko began to float in the air, rising up. "Have I convinced you yet? I want you to hold nothing back and fight me at your best! It will be interesting to see how strong you are before I either kill you or absorb you."

Tsunami had her eyes locked on Zyroko, and uttered several words Zyroko couldn't make out.

"As you wish."

**********

A blue and black streaked body raced by, churning up a combination of dirt clouds and soil. Several trees were nearly uprooted as the thing zoomed past. A flock of birds and fowl noisily parted as the object continued to fly by. It was moving at an incredible rate, and was encased in a white colored fire, leaving a trail lagging behind in its wake.

Tenchi Misaki wanted to get back to the shrine FAST. He was moving low, nearly flying over the ground. He didn't want high turbulence to get in his path. Washu wanted him to return so badly, so Tenchi was determined to return. He moved from mountain to mountain, river to river...crossing miles and miles at once by zanzokenning.

As he moved farther up, he began to notice familiarities. Below him was a sprawling city, so he decided to take the risks and flew higher up, avoiding people. As he observed the establish passing quickly beneath him, he began to see a pattern.

Tenchi mumbled out loud, "My word, this is the old city my dad and I used to live in. If I'm here, then the shrine can't be too far away at all!"

Tenchi lowered his altitude again, and began skimming over the water. As he passed under the bridge, he couldn't help but remember what it had all looked like prior the crash of Ryo-Ohki. My my, he thought, how things change in only a short while. I never thought I'd find myself FLYING over this thing again...

Tenchi passed over another green laden hill, and he saw it at last. Before him was the shining, crystal clear waters of the Misaki lake. He panned his eyes all around, absorbing in the majestic beauty that was his home.

The ruins of Noboyuki's house still remained, blackened. The fires and smoke had obviously stopped a while ago, but the dark, crumbling timbers still loomed like a silent forest of charred wood. From up above the destruction seemed to be spread out even greater, even having a few of the surrounding trees fallen over and burned. Yet another reason, thought Tenchi, Zyroko must pay.

He looked ahead and saw the sheer steps of the Misaki shrine. Also, from a height, the steps seemed to look quite different on the ground level. It took Tenchi maybe 5 minutes to walk up those things, and now he seemed bewildered that he could do it in 20. Vines and overhangs of trees stretched across in some areas, obscuring his view. But up ahead, he could see the gates to Katsuhito-Sama's Shrine. At last, he was home.

Tenchi smiled, "I can't believe I remember all this so well...it's been a year for me, yet one day for them. Unprecedented..."

The gate was opened wide, and Tenchi simply touched down at the foot of its open doors. He walked forward, passing underneath the entryway. His feet echoed about the tranquil place...strange how one seems to notice everything of something he's had taken away for so long.

He was in the open courtyard, but no one seemed to be about. "Hello!!! Is anyone around?!"

His voice didn't seem to get anywhere, so he yelled out again. "Where is everyone? It's me! Tench...!!!"

Out from above, Azaka shot down yelling, "NOW!!!!!"

*BAM!!*

In a single moment Tenchi's world turned upside down. The giant log crashed into him at full speed, knocking him back and making him roll around in the ground. His rolling was promptly halted as he went right into a type of wire mesh, which wrapped itself around him.

Tenchi was caught off guard, and instinctively began to try to wrest his way out, "Hey!! What's the meaning of this!? It's ME...OUCH!!"

A loud BANG was heard as a hard wooden stick nailed Tenchi across the back of his head. Ayeka was standing over him, her eyes closed in tears, beating away.

"I knew you'd come back Zyroko! Give me back my Sasami NOW!!!"

Tenchi had gotten his wits back, and folded his legs up inside the net, looking seriously at Ayeka.

"Uhh...Ayeka..."

To Tenchi's left, Kamidake materialized out of the ground. "Your highness...it appears we may of made an error..."

Tenchi sighed, "It's Me Ayeka...TENCHI!!"

Ayeka stopped in mid swing, and actually opened her eyes.

"....T...T....TENCHI?!"

The stick was dropped and she threw herself on Tenchi, hugging him so tight his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Oh oh oh Tenchi-Sama!! I thought you'd never return! Where were you? Did you beat Zyroko? Sorry for the mix-up, but you really didn't look like your old self? What happened?! Are you okay...is Yamcha and the others alright? What about Clay..."

Ayeka continued blabbing on with question after question. Tenchi made a mental note in-between short breaths to never let Ayeka within 10 feet of coffee from now on.

A door phased in out of nowhere, and it opened right away. A "^_^" faced Washu stepped out, sweat drops on her head. Bulma followed behind, lugging a large suitcase behind her.

Washu laughed a bit, "Oh my, poor ol' Tenchi. You really had the thing going there for Zyroko! You look nothing like you used to!"

Tenchi, tear-stained eyes, pleadingly looked at Washu, "If...you...could...please...get...me...out...of... this...net...and...perhaps...making...Ayeka...let...go...please?"

Washu brought out a controller and pressed a transparent key, similar to her computer. "The net is a form of biodegradable energy, so it can assume physical or non physical forms at any time. However..."

The net almost immediately disappeared from around Tenchi, but his situation was not much more improved. Ayeka was latched around his neck like a leech.

Mihoshi came up from behind, Azaka, and Yosho and Noboyuki came up from behind Kamidake.

Yosho put a reassuring hand on Ayeka, "Now now dear sister, Tenchi's most likely been through some rough times. It might be best to give him some air now."

Ayeka looked at Tenchi, gasping for air, and let ago right away, "Ooops!! I'm so sorry Tenchi...it just seems that I haven't seen you in so long!"

Tenchi thought to himself: Just wait till she hears my story...famous last words, Ayeka.

Tenchi stood up and brushed himself off. Now that the commotion was over, everyone could finally get a good look at Tenchi.

Mihoshi was the first to speak after several, sweat-drops-on-heads moments.

"Tenchi...you're BIG!!"

Ayeka took it the wrong way, and yelled over at Mihoshi. "And just how would YOU know that?! Does the Galaxy Police issue out x ray vision contact lenses or something?!"

Tenchi's face turned red, and tried turning away from the group a bit. Sometimes these tight battle suits have the disadvantages...

Mihoshi held up her hands and smiled with a "^_^" face. "Now now Ayeka...I meant his muscles and body! Look, he's a body builder now!"

Ayeka thought about this for a moment, and was satisfied. "I...see."

Washu walked up and began poking Tenchi and looking at his massive and toned muscles. "My my, Mihoshi IS right! You've vastly gained in your mass of muscle. And not to mention your hair is a lot longer! It's much more spiky now! I suppose that's why it was so easy to mistake you for Zyroko there..."

Tenchi looked around, "What is the big scare? Did he attack directly here or something?"

Ayeka turned her head down. Noboyuki stepped forward, "We've all been a little ancy ever since Sasami disappeared this morning. Ayeka was convinced that Zyroko had taken her away..."

Tenchi smiled, "So you all were just preparing to fight for your lives?"

Yosho nodded, "I suppose you could say that. But do tell us Tenchi, what exactly has happened with the Zyroko situation? You experienced it first hand."

Tenchi looked a bit to the side, feeling awkward and disturbed. "It's a long story...so much has happened it's hard to know how it all started in the first place..."

Bulma stepped forward, "What do you mean? It happened yesterday!"

Tenchi shook his head, "Not for me...for me, the Zoku battle...Zyroko's appearance...the battle on the Shunga II...all of it, it happened a year ago."

Everyone except for Washu and Bulma had their jaws drop open in surprise. "NANI!?!?!"

Tenchi closed his eyes and smiled, trying to calm them down, "Don't worry, it's really not that complicated. I'll start off where we were when we last left. Ryoko, Piccolo, and I all traveled over the earth to catch up with the Shunga II. We entered it easily enough, I suppose. After a while, we were able to reach the main core. Clay had a trap set, and we all got separated. Zyroko was going to go pick us off one by one, absorbing the likes of us all. It so happened that he got to me first.... We did battle, but I was heavily injured and lost."

Washu crept up a bit, "Exactly where were you injured?"

Tenchi rubbed the back of his neck, "Uhh...well...you se...I'd rather not say..."

Washu latched herself on to him, "Oh C'mon! We want all the gritty details. *Tenchi shakes his head* No? Oh, then just whisper it to me then..."

She brought her ear close to Tenchi's mouth. He sighed, and whispered into it.

Bulma watched as he saw Washu's face go from happy to horror in an instant. She sighed, "If I know Washu..."

Washu jumped back and yelled at Tenchi, "WHAT??!?!? HE GOT YOU THERE?!?!"

She grabbed him and buried her head in his groin, "Oh poor poor Tenchi's manhood...what trauma you went through. Now how am I suppose to have my baby now!? Damn you Zyroko! Damn you!!"

Tenchi's face turned beat read and he struggled with all his might to get Washu off of him.

"I appreciated your affection but will you PLEASE NOT DO THAT!?!?"

Washu brought her face out to slyly look at Tenchi's face, "If you want, I can kiss it and make it aaaaaaaalll better! ^_^"

Tenchi grabbed onto Washu's shoulders and wrested her out of his private areas, "NO."

Washu laughed a bit, "Hehe...embarrassed are we?"

Everyone else had sweat drops on their heads, and Mihoshi whispered to Bulma, "What is going on? I don't get it!"

Bulma whispered something in Mihoshi's ear, and she too grew very petrified as she finally understood.

Mihoshi gasped, "Oh my, Tenchi! How did you ever get out of THAT mess?! Talk about ouchies..."

Tenchi brushed himself off again, "Well, I was about to be absorbed by Zyroko. My Lighthawk wings could not even affect him. But before anything could happen, Piccolo came to my rescue and saved me. I was bleeding bad....in that area...so Piccolo had to hurry or I'd die of blood loss. Ryoko joined as well, and from what I gathered from Ryoko they both were able to get Zyroko beat."

Washu frowned, "But you didn't...did you?"

Tenchi shook his head, "No. As a last resort Zyroko's anger caused his absorption tentacles to shoot out. Ryoko said she and Piccolo were able to dodge them for a while, but Piccolo was absorbed. *everyone gasps* Zyroko, with Piccolo's new intellect, killed Clay and destroyed the Shunga II. Ryoko and I were barely able to escape on Ryo-Ohki... When we arrived on Earth, the first priority was saving my life, to Ryoko. The great god, Kami, was able to guide Ryo-Ohki to his palace. There my 'wounds' were healed..."

Washu and Ayeka are heard mumbling, "Thank god..."

Tenchi continued, "Since we were obviously no match for Zyroko's new form, we went in and trained in the Room of Spirit and Time."

Bulma was shocked, "WOW! Kami let you go THERE? Goku could barely last there a month!!"

Tenchi shrugged, "Ryoko and I both knew we would have to train as much as possible. Sorry if only Bulma here knows about the Room of Spirit and Time. It's a gateway to another universe, where every second here is 6 minutes there. One normal minute is 6 hours in the room of spirit and time. And one day outside is one year inside. Ryoko and I spent one year in there, and we trained our bodies to the max..."

Yosho was seeing his grandson in a different light. No more was he the simple farmer's boy, wishing to live a normal life. He was a full blown Jurain Knight now, laden with experience. In fact, by the immense power Tenchi seemed to be giving off now with all of his new strength, Yosho could see Tenchi was by far the strongest Jurain ever to exist. Except for Tsunami, of course...

Mihoshi urged Tenchi to go on, "Well...what happened? Did you confront Zyroko?"

Tenchi nodded, "I did...and fought him as well. Before I could kill him, Ryoko told me that Washu had telepathically delivered a message: Tell Tenchi to return to the shrine at once. So I left Ryoko, upon much reluctance, and headed back here..."

Washu smiled, "Well, that's perfect. You realize you have human genes inside of you, right? If Zyroko absorbed you he would be able to cancel out Yamcha's human genes. As long as you don't get absorbed, Zyroko can never become Perfect."

Tenchi smiled, "Well, that's good to know. *smiles* Whatever happened to Goku and Vegeta? Did Gohan come yet?"

Bulma held her head down, "No...right now they're resting in a cooperation chamber. If we can get a hold of one gem, we can revive them to full strength. We had to something...it appears Gohan might have not gotten the Senzu beans..."

A loud voice screeched out from above, "OKAY! I'M READY NOW!!! ZYROKO'S GOING DOWN!!!"

The figure of Chi-Chi seem to fall from the sky as she dived after Tenchi. Tenchi was about to open his mouth to speak, when Chi-Chi slammed head first into Tenchi, knocking him down and creating a cloud of dust.

*BAM!* *POW!* *SPLURT!*

From inside the cloud of dust, various punches and kicks could be seen flashing out every now and then.

Chi-Chi: Try to attack us again, eh Zyroko! This is for what you and your Clay have done to my GOKU!!!

Tenchi: What are yo-ouch!-u doing to me lad-OWW!-y?! I'm not -UFF!- Zyroko!!!

Chi-Chi: I'll give you a left, a right...and more!! This'll make you think twice about forcing my Gohan to keep out of his studies!!!

*Everyone gets sweat drops on their heads*

Washu rubbed the back of her head, "Perhaps I should've told Chi-Chi that it was Tenchi, not Zyroko after all...

Bulma sighed, "You did tell her to climb that tree and pounce on who the intruder was when you had the chance...

Mihoshi was getting nervous, "Maybe we should break them up?"

Ayeka was not paying too much attention, she was turned away mumbling to herself, "Tenchi...Ryoko...alone...together...for one whole year...why do I get the feeling I'll NEVER hear the end of this...*gets hearts in eyes* Oh, where is my beloved Yamcha when I need him...

The view zoomed away from the scene, with everyone trying to get the mis-informed Chi-Chi off of Tenchi. Azaka and Kamidake are seen standing by the gates, guarding as usual.

Azaka: "My my...another gorgeous day"

*POW!* *BAM!* *OUCH!*

Kamidake: "Yes...quite."

**********

Whatever sadness that had been in Tsunami's eyes had left now. She was more determined than any being on that planet to never allow such abominations to occur. How could the sanctity of life be violated so terrifyingly by one man? All the souls he's crushed...tortured...made suffer...she planned on getting revenge for them all.

Yet, as Tsunami floated high above the Earth, staring across at Zyroko, she almost felt a regret. Of all things she did not like hurting things. She cared and loved for all forms of life, especially her Jurains. She only went out of her way to harm others when her children were threatened, such as the battle with Kagato. Now here she was again, going to cause a lot of pain to life. But no matter how many times she ran through the situation, thinking it over, the Jurain goddess knew only one option remained.

She spoke, her voice as smooth and silent as a breeze, "I will do whatever it takes to ensure that life continues...and it means his death."

Zyroko had less comprehensive thoughts on his mind. Tsunami couldn't be nearly that tough, he thought. There were no recorded battle readings on her at all in his data files. How good could she be if she was undetected all this time? Dr. Clay's recordings dated back to nearly 20,000 years ago. Thus he was not too worried. He quietly and smugly folded up his arms and focused his eyes on Tsunami.

The wind was fairly calm for such an altitude, but both Tsunami's and Zyroko's hair brushed back and forth in the steady gusts. Zyroko's mouth upturned in a crooked smile; this was it.

Zyroko cocked his head towards Tsunami, "Any time you're ready...begin!!"

Tsunami closed her eyes, whatever regrets she could have been thinking were being forced from her mind. No longer did the tidings of doubt course through her psyche.

Tsunami opened her eyes, her gaze stuck directly on that of Zyroko's floating figure.

"BEGIN!!!"

Tsunami shot her arms outwards, like a twin springed trap. She began to screech out at the top of her lungs. Almost within the same moment a shockwave of sheer sound slammed into Zyroko, making him be pushed back a few feet in the air. Tsunami's voice rang out so loudly, so clearly, so sharply...that it cut through the air like a knife. Mountains began to shake their massive, earthen bodies as if in quake. Trees and their limbs sway harshly back and forth in the wind.

Tsunami's aura bursted out in a furious explosion. Zyroko hastily covered his eyes, and spun back around. Something was wrong. Tsunami's ki levels were growing to unimaginable heights. He stood back, observing as Tsunami's rage and purity of power began to flow through her and show.

Her mouth began to emit an imminent tone, yelling in time with the surge of strength.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Within the white fire around her, streaks of silver began to emit and resonate with the white. A definite shaking was erupted from deep inside of her lungs, it seemed like she could scream in pattern with her power up all day.

Below them, the very seams of the Earth cracked. For miles around animals dove for cover, people huddled inside. The clouds actually began to move away, clearing a large open space all around Tsunami. It rushed outwards, her very voice able to move mountains.

From out of nowhere (there are no clouds), a streak of electricity sparked across the sky. It connected with Tsunami, and merged with her aura. Another hit from up to her right, and soon several electric bolts were sparking off of her aura.

Zyroko opened his eyes wide, her ki was incredible. Tenchi was nothing to this.

His face was bathed in white, but he tried to yell out over Tsunami's screaming voice.

"H-hey! Stop that! Just what do you think you're....DOING?!"

He readied a quick burst of ki, to act as some sort of distraction. Tsunami's spiritual levels were growing so high that he could feel the other side of the planet rattling. How could any living thing have so much inner determination?

Zyroko reared back his arm, cocked like a loaded gun. "You think I'm just going to LET you go through with this?!?! FIRE FLASH!!!"

The quick, flame gold shot out of his extended arm. It raced forward at Tsunami, only a few more meters separating Tsunami and the ki ball's collision.

*BAZAM!!*

A white, translucent object appeared in the path of the ball. As the energy force passed through it, it all of a sudden lost its power and diminished outwards. The transparent object appeared to gain a more pentagon like shape, stretched vertically like a sword. Another one popped up next to it, and another. They were surrounding Tsunami all around like guardians.

Zyroko was surprised even more so, "L...the Lighthawk wings! No wonder she's a goddess.....ten of them!!"

Indeed, one after another the wings of the Lighthawk teleported in around Tsunami's electrified, pulsating body. They were much larger than Tenchi's, nearly the size of Tsunami herself. As Tsunami's body glowed, the wings glowed in unison. The goddess intended of holding nothing back.

Tsunami now had most of her ki gathered, and it was time to apply it. She began to allow her muscles to grow and flex. Veins popping with energy burst up through her skin and around her tight karate gi. Her legs and arms began to bulge and swell, their much larger outlines glowing a deep white. Soon Tsunami's entire body had a faint, whitish outline. It grew brighter and brighter, acting almost like a Taiyoken, blinding Zyroko.

His eyes had been forced closed by the intensity of Tsunami's rising power, but even through shut lids the glow of her aura seemed to pierce right through his skin. What was THIS? Even Ryoko didn't seem to possess such phenomenal feats...

Soon, all of Tsunami's body, except for her blue hair, was totally white. No distinguishing features remained. The hair itself stood high up on end, and the twin braids that had held the two ponytails together before burnt off. Tsunami's hair was now long and free, and in the face of the excruciatingly bright light, it began to change color. Steadily going from blue, to purple, to black, to a near white, and then ending out a grey. Tsunami's ocean blue hair had turned grey, and was now hanging down her back much like it did to Achika in "Tenchi Muyo in Love."

Tsunami's screams were loud as ever, and now she realized that it was nearly done.

Tsunami bundle her arms and legs up, making her figure seem to shrink in size.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHI-YAHHHHH!!!!"

Using her full, unimaginable strength, Tsunami thrust her arms, legs, and hear out from her body. Her glowing outline exploded violently, slamming into Zyroko like the force of a hurricane.

Zyroko tried to regain his balance, but the sheer amount of the of excess energy made it too difficult to get a clear bearing on where he was. All he could do was flap his arms around trying to make sure he didn't run into some canyon wall...

*KKKKKKKKKAAAAABBBOOOM!!!*

Tsunami's aura expanded and shot ahead, spreading out like a dome. In less then a split second it had crossed a 1,000 miles and proceeded to bathe the entire earth in her celestial light. People in china looked up from their activities to look at the sky. In America several people were forced to part from an episode of "Survivor" to see what the heck was screwing up their cable. In Japan several people who were trying to think of a good idea for an anime involving little balls to wish people back to life was interrupted, and they opened up their windows, shaking their fists at the distracting light.

For a brief moment, the whole world was like a white pearl amongst the other planets in space. Tsunami's heavily powers seemed to fill the entire world up. Yet, as soon as it came, it passed. The light began to be drawn back in by Tsunami. All around the energy she had exploded out with rushed back into her now pumped body like a surge of gigantic electricity.

All happening within a few seconds, the white light that surrounded the planet was now one point. Even from outer space it showed through the clouds. It sparkled like a star amongst the heavens. And as the view zoomed down back to the battlefield, it became clear that it was Tsunami who was giving off the light.

She was like a warrior out of a myth. Her blue battle gi was taunt against her body. Her arms were literally filled to the brim with ki and muscle. Her hair now was one long flowing river down her back, silver grey like any Jurain at full power should be. The twin marks on her forehead glowed white as well, and all around her the 10 wings of a goddess floated.

Her eyes remained the same color, that beautiful pink that had captivated many. Yet now they were filled with a type of emotion Tsunami had not felt in a long, long time...and it is not too hard to figure out what it was.

Tsunami stared at Zyroko, and then lowered her head. "Zyroko....I hate you!!"

Within the moment those words escaped from her lips, Zyroko's world took a tailspin. For a split second, Tsunami's figure wavered and seemed to disappear from his view. But before he could even think about it, a sickening feeling instantly developed in his abdomen.

*BOOOM!!*

**********

Ryoko was going top speed, just like Tenchi had done so earlier. Her golden aura wisped around her, its fire enveloping her like a blanket. Her turquoise eyes shot back and forth, always wary. Despite being quite a bit stronger than Zyroko was right now, one could never be too careful.

"What's that?" She asked out loud. Behind her she began to feel strong waves. Not really Ki waves...more so like the frequency of Jurains!

She turned back to flying, "Must be Tsunami...and I sure wouldn't want to be Zyroko when Tsunami sees all the carnage he's done."

Ryoko shot off into the distance again, not knowing that Tsunami had indeed discovered what horrors Zyroko was capable of.

But little did either woman know that they had only seen the half of it.

**********

Many images flashed through Zyroko's mind. Pictures of how he was first created, his still developing body floating in some test tube. Being sealed up to slowly grow over thousands of years. Even though that crystalline casing had kept his physical body at bay, his soul wondered all over the universe. He would imagine many places...many people. And the whole time he wanted them to be his. Perhaps it was Dr. Clay's "perfect" programming had left him more evil and alike to Clay than even Clay knew of! His ambitions had override Clay's control, and he was dispatched with no trouble. And considering the close link between Clay and Zyroko, it meant that Zyroko was capable doing absolutely anything he wished. Becoming Ultimate Zyroko was the first half. The rest was to make this entire plane of existence know that Zyroko existed...by slaughtering the lot of them. And traveling back and forth between the universe, heaven, hell...his torment of others would be everlasting!

Yet while these thoughts were flashing through his brain, a deep, strong pain in his stomach brought him back to reality.

Zyroko looked down, his eyes in wide shock at the site of pain. Tsunami's fist had buried itself right through his red upper gi. She had zanzokenned so quickly he could not follow...and nailed him right in the open stomach.

Driplets of blood ran out and around Tsunami's fist; she had easily broken through Zyroko's skin and muscle. With a loud *splish*, Tsunami brought her fist out. A gaping, open hole was present in Zyroko's abdomen. The pain was great, but Zyroko knew he could bear it.

He clutched at his wound, trying to bottle it up. "Eeeerrr....damn....you...how did you...?!"

*KAPOW!*

Wasting no time, Tsunami kneed Zyroko directly in the side. The extreme force caused his body to spin around at a rapid rate. His arms flailed about as he became a human tornado for a short moment. Tsunami grabbed one of his outstretched, spinning legs. She reared back, and let the bleeding, screaming Zyroko go. His body shot down, blood trailing behind. He was rapidly approaching the rock hard ground...

*BAM!!*

He nailed into the ground, causing it to crack and explode. Rock parts and pebbles were thrown violently from all sides. A large dust cloud rose up like a brown dragon. The smoke and crud concealed whatever condition Zyroko may have been in.

Tsunami floated down, lowering her altitude rapidly until she was on the ground. With a slight *thump*, her karate boots landed. She made sure that her attention did not leave the quickly-clearing dust column one moment. Any minute now, it would clear away and she would be able to see what Zyroko's condition was. Not that it would bring any new news...she could sense it without her eyes anyways.

The dust cleared away, and Zyroko's body was now visible. He was untouched. The wound in his stomach had healed, his cloths were not torn at all. He stood in the center of the crater, broken rock and rubble all about him. Yet his same old mocking grin smiled back at Tsunami.

He cracked his neck a bit, "Wow, quite a feat you displayed back there. It happened so quickly I didn't even have a chance to retaliate. But remember, if your punches lack stopping power than what else is there? Sure, you got me caught off guard...but I'm still here."

Tsunami readied herself, "Well then...ready for round two?"

Zyroko dusted the last bit of rock off of his clothes, "Indeed."

They both took off, slamming at each other with faster than ever speed. Zyroko's much larger fists blocked Tsunami's rapid punches with ease. He grabbed on to Tsunami's shoulders, flipping himself over her. When the opening was clear, he tried a side kick to Tsunami's neck. The blue haired Jurain deftly ducked her head in the nick of time, and promptly latched on to Zyroko's kicking leg. Her hands tightened right away, and she spun Zyroko about her head. He tried making a kick with his free foot, and it succeeded, slamming into Tsunami's left cheek. She let go, and Zyroko bounded backwards.

Zyroko got his hands ready, "Let's see how you like this! ICE FLASH!!!"

A light blue ki ball was created and thrown in the same instant. It was the exact same thing as the Fire Flash, minus the color. Tsunami was still partially recovering from her previous blow, so she could not get any Lighthawk wings or arms up to block it. The small blast slammed right into her chest area, and there its ki spread out rather than exploding. What skin it touched, were instantly frozen. The ice began to envelope her entire upper half. It stopped right at her neck, and covered her entire chest and arms in the thick ice.

Tsunami tried to wrest herself out of the ice, but it was to no avail. Zyroko took this time to rush at Tsunami, the moment being absolutely perfect. Tsunami strained and strained, but as she saw Zyroko coming, she realized that there wouldn't be enough time.

Zyroko made a wild punch towards Tsunami, and the goddess had to take action. She jumped out of the way just in time, frantically backing away with her arms frozen. Tsunami was good on her feet, so she was able to dodge every single attack thrown by Zyroko.

Frustration overcoming him, Zyroko began to punch and kick with all the strength and speed he could muster. Yet no matter how many times he succeeded in getting an attack off, Tsunami seemed able to get around it.

Zyroko had it, and came at Tsunami with both arms coming in from the sides. Tsunami was not mobile enough to block the double attack, and Zyroko managed to grab onto her by her sides. She struggled a bit to get out, but Zyroko lifted her off of the ground. Her feet dangled down, and Zyroko was laughing menacingly.

He shook Tsunami a bit, "Hahha...it might seem as if you're in quite the position now, my dear."

Tsunami stopped her struggling, and slyly looked back at Zyroko, "I could say the same about YOU!"

Since her arms were frozen, and Zyroko had grabbed her by her frozen upper half, her legs were free. She swung her left leg back, and from point blank range kicked and connected hard with Zyroko's lower chin.

He let go right away, the shock sending him back several feet. Tsunami, making like Frieza, began to assault Zyroko with no arms. She sent kick after kick his way, the boots making loud cracking sounds as they hit his jaw.

Zyroko was flying backwards, fast. Tsunami's flurry of kicks was far too much for him to take, and he was easily sent careening into a stone wall. Tsunami took advantage of the moment. She jumped backwards, maybe a 100 yards from where Zyroko had hit. She had to get out of the ice, and now was her chance.

Underneath the ice, her Ki and Jurai power began to bulge and grow. "AAAAAAAHHH...."

Electric bolts sparked around her, the white flame of her aura glowing brightly. The ice was tough and supernatural, but it was no match for the sudden bilge of power. Tsunami broke her arms free of the ice, sending ice shards in every which way.

".......HHHHHIIIIYYAAHHH!!!"

She stopped to breathe a bit; that technique had drained some out of her. She looked up and around. The hole where Zyroko had been was not cleared away. With her now newly freed arms, she floated up and over there. She peered into the hole, looking around for any indication of Zyroko.

He laid there, many bruises upon his face. Some blood dripped down his nose, and one eye was swollen shut. He was breathing hard through clenched teeth; his shone with a mix of anger and desperation.

Yet as Tsunami stood there looking at Zyroko, she felt something was amiss. He could've gotten out earlier...and regenerated. What did he think he was doing? She watched him closely, and noticed that his eyes strayed to the side...

Tsunami found out at once, "Damn!!"

She jumped back as a energy blast came at her from the side. She spun around to see who the assailant was, only to see Zyroko himself!

The Zyroko in the air was in perfect shape, unlike the one in the hole. Tsunami was too shocked to say anything, and it didn't help when the Zyroko who was in the hole in the stone wall came walking out. He was now fully healed, and the two Zyrokos walked side by side towards Tsunami.

The one on the left starting talking, "I see you are a bit thrown off by this technique. It's one of Piccolo's moves, actually. Great for putting the fast one on some."

The other one began to pick up his speed, "And now that its two on one...I think you'll find the favor is going to be ours!!"

They both launched ahead like Twin rockets, aimed at Tsunami. She darted out of the way of one Zyroko, but the other one anticipated her move and came up from the other side. He fired off a few quick punches towards her, and there was nothing she could do but block them.

The other Zyroko quickly turned around and came at her from behind. She could sense him coming around fast. Twisting her body around like a top, she managed to kick the punching Zyroko away and bring up her arms just in time to block the coming Zyroko's fists.

He grinned at Tsunami's hardships, "Having some difficulties?"

Tsunami grinned back, "Not at all."

She thrust her free leg up and into Zyroko's groin, a sharp cracking sound ringing out. Zyroko's eyes bulged and he began to sway backwards in pain. He clutched between his legs, some bits of blood seeping through his fingers.

Tsunami scorned him, "I suppose you could call this revenge for Tenchi."

Behind Tsunami, the other Zyroko had recovered. Seeing the goddess distracted by his now ailing other-half, he took off and began to charge ahead. His fist began to glow a hot yellow as it approached Tsunami....Tsunami's back was turned, she was talking to the other Zyroko...it was the perfect moment to strike.

At least until Tsunami spun around, grabbed the charging Zyroko by the extended fist. She wrapped her arms around it, and before Zyroko could think he found himself being roughly thrown. Up and over Tsunami's shoulder he went, and going backwards flew outwards. His body slammed into the bleeding Zyroko....hard. And the two of them crashed down towards the Earth. Tsunami wasted no time, and charged up her first energy attack of the fight.

A dark blue ball glowed in her hands, and she released it with a quick thrust forward, "TERRA-HA!!"

The wave of intense ki shot downwards and struck the spot where both Zyrokos had landed. The explosion that issued what so much strong, as it was fast and bright. The whole landscape was draped in its white light for several moments, before settling down. A few brief wisps of dirt began to spread out and land on the ground. The view was now clear for Tsunami.

Taking too much pain had proved to be the case for the clones. Both Zyrokos were now fused back together into one burned up, bleeding, annoyed Zyroko. His Piccolo cape was torn in several areas, and his face didn't seem to show one bit that he was happy about it. His lip curled up in disgust, and Zyroko staggered to his feet.

He began to spread his legs out to get a more steady position, "You...you...bitch!"

He quickly built up his ki and surrounded himself with the energy. His body glowed for a second, and his arms and legs bulged at the muscles. When the short flash had cleared, Zyroko was back to normal. His cloths, wounds, even messed up hair seemed like they were brand new.

Tsunamis sighed, "How many times am I going to have to kick you apart...let you regenerate...kick you apart...let you regenerate...it's getting a bit repetitive."

Zyroko smiled and cracked his neck a bit, rotating his arms. "Very well...it can change whenever you want it to. Or rather...when I want it to!!"

His outline disappeared, zanzokenning out of Tsunami's line of sight. She knew where he was going and what he was going to do, but she let him do it. Zyroko appeared right above Tsunami, and side chopped her head with a swinging arc of his left arm. Tsunami went free-falling downwards, not giving forth one ounce of strength to stop her descent. A large body of water was below her, and just as Zyroko had been aiming for, Tsunami plunged into the water. A giant cascade of water fired upwards to the sky.

Zyroko laughed a bit; perhaps Tsunami was not as good as she appeared to be. He fired up his aura and shot down after her.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

*********

It was the exact same scene as earlier. Passing over a few mountains, recognizing several areas. Ryoko was nearing the shrine, and when she had gone over the same city Tenchi had, she sped up. Soon she would reach it. Up ahead, the foothills surrounding the Masaki shrine popped into view. She allowed her golden ki to flourish, easily enabling her to reach great speed.

She rose up and over the hills in a matter of seconds, and, seeing the gateway, proceeded to go to the shrine. She lowered her altitude, coming close down to the ground. She hovered over the steps for a bit, and landed about halfway from the top of the stairs. She paced herself; it had been a whole year since she last set foot on these stairs. Might as well take your time remembering.

As she slowly walked up them, she began to flash back. All the memories of this one spot seemed endless. Rivalry between herself and Ayeka...sweet moments with Tenchi...humiliating moments with Washu...eating Sasami's wonderful breakfast. Heh, sure was a hell of a lot better than being jammed in a cave for 700 years. Ryoko knew that she had to stand up for these ideals; she had loafed around enough. The thought of her and Ayeka becoming "close" friends was still very amusing.

Ryoko neared the top of the stairs, "But I think I owe it to that Jurain. What's the point in such senseless quarrels?"

She reached the top, and Azaka and Kamidake immediately hailed out, "It's Ryoko!!!"

She nodded towards the two guardians, "Hello my logs. How has the fort been held up?"

Seeing a blond, blue-eyed Ryoko was a bit much for the pieces of Jurain wood, "Uhhh...fine, I suppose...what is wi...?"

Ryoko pushed open the gates, turning back to them, "Naw, it's okay. Just make sure no one else comes in after me, k?"

The gate closed, leaving two very dumbfounded Jurain Guardians.

A sweat drop dripped down Azaka's side, "She's.....blond."

Kamidake replied in return, "Her eyes.....are blue..."

Ryoko walked into the grounds of Katsuhito's shrine. She looked around, seeing no one.

She cupped her hands over her mouth, "Hhhhhhheeeeellllooooo!!! The beauty has returnnnnnneeeddd!!!"

No response. Ryoko looked around some more. "I don't get it...I go through all the trouble of training for one whole year *lifts up rock*...and no one's here to greet me?!

She threw the rock away, the large boulder striking the mountains side, "INJUSTICE!!!"

*crash!*

"OUCH!!!"

A loud commotion seemed to be coming out from the side of the shrine, where the piece of stone had fallen. Ryoko rubbed the back of her neck, "Maybe I shouldn't have done that..."

The scamper of several footsteps came up the hill, and to Ryoko's surprise came a very scratched up Ayeka came screaming out. Her clothes were torn and she seemed to have quite a bump on her head.

Veins in her forehead, she screamed out, "OKAY!! WHAT IS WITH THE PIECE OF GRANITE LANDING ON MY HEAD?!?!"

A sweat drop dripped down Ryoko's head, "Uhh..hehe....sorry?"

Ayeka was steaming, "I knew it must have been yo...!! What the? Your hair is..."

Ryoko nodded, "A Super Saiyan's. Didn't Tenchi tell you we both spent a year of training together?"

Ayeka's anger had eased a bit, "I know...but I didn't think the results would be so...drastic. Hehehe..."

Ryoko was confused, "What is it? Does my hair look...even MORE lavish as a blond? *attempts a pretty pose*"

Ayeka was giggling still, "No...it's just that your arms...and legs...are so....BIG! Hahahhahah!!!"

Ayeka was nearly falling over with laughter, leaving Ryoko a bit peeved herself, "Well I....never! It's all a simple side effect. It took me far too long to power up like this, and I don't want to let my energy down, just to have to power up later...especially because of YOU!!"

*Electric bolts shoot out of Ryoko's and Ayeka's forehead in traditional argument poses*

From the other side of the shrine, came a running Tenchi. He was still clad in the karate gi he had been wearing for the Zyroko fight, but had his normal outfit loosely buttoned over it.

Tenchi screeched to a halt once he saw Ryoko, catching his breath, "I *breath* heard some *breath* noise over here and *breath*....Ryoko? *breath*, did Tsunami *breath* arrive?"

Ryoko shook her head and let the Ayeka thing go, "Why, yes she did. I'm glad to see you made it back alright. Where is everyone?"

Tenchi had his wind back now, and adjusted his collar, "Oh, here and there. Ayeka and I were checking out the hillsides to see if any pieces of our house had flown up there. I think Washu was just trying to think of something to do...she and Bulma have been in the lab for a while now. Going back and forth, setting things up over...*points*....there."

Ryoko turned towards Tenchi's finger. Indeed, a large pile of equipment was set up on the ground. It was partially hidden by one side of the shrine's walls, and she had too walk a bit over to the left to see what it was. Mostly seemed to consist of several cylinders and wires interconnecting them. A large, bulky antennae protruded from the whole mess. Before she could inquire what it was, a glowing shadow of an interdimensional door came into view. It solidified into a wooden door, which promptly opened. Washu stepped out, carrying several lengths of cord in her arms. Followed closely behind was an exhausted Bulma.

Bulma plumped her armload next to the machine, and fell down, panting, "My god...I'm glad that's the last of it. Huh? Is that....Ryoko?!"

Washu turned to look, after setting down her equipment, "Oh...I see...Ryoko huh? Okay Bulma, that should be about it..."

*CRASH!*

Ryoko fell over at that one, and she jumped back up fuming, "That's what I get?! Just a "oh, I see?!" Washu-chan, I've been away for a whole year...well, for me at least...the least you could have said was "hi!" "

Washu blinked, "W, what? Was that a request for...friendly conversation?"

Ryoko rubbed her blond hair, "Washu, a year is a long time. I've had much time to think about things. You are my mother...and frankly that's rather unmotherly of you!"

Ryoko walked closer to Washu, and kneeled down in front of her. Washu looked in Ryoko's eyes, and was surprised to see some tear stained eyes stare back at her, "Ryoko...I didn't..."

Ryoko sighed, and replied back, "It's okay. That's the way you've always been. But as I said before I've changed a lot. I want to take back all the things I've said...start fresh. We never did get off of the right foot...never really had any "Mother to Daughter" moments. And this sure does get to me...I've realized that all of you, even Ayeka, are far too precious to me to lose."

Ryoko then did something she had never done in her entire life. Going against every last trait she has had before, Ryoko hugged Washu. She buried her head on Washu's shoulder, holding her close.

"I...I know this seems weird...but I just want things to get better. Please, whatever things you remember about me...whatever doubts you once had in my personality...forget them. Just know that you have a daughter...whom does care for her mother. Washu, do you understand?"

Washu was unresponsive, but Tenchi saw that there was a reason. Washu's eyes were bulging out, anime-style tear rivers coming down her eyes.

"Ryoko...I...understand...but, your...muscles...are...choking...me!!"

Ryoko realized this at once, and let Washu go. She slumped to the ground, little circles spinning in her eyes. Ryoko giggled, "Hehe...sorry about that, I guess this new form is a bit out there for my usual self."

Bulma snapped the last of the tubes and wires together, and began walking towards the group, "Yes, you could definitely say that. You're a Super Saiyan, but your body is much more powered up! I thought you had to convert your Lighthawk wings to do such a thing as well?"

Ryoko shook her head, "Naw, it was all part of the training. By the way, what is with all that equipment you got set up over there?"

Tenchi helped Washu back to her feet, who, after dusting herself off, began to talk, "I suppose it IS perfect timing for you to show up. This....*proud points to the now completed contraption*...is the device that will defeat Zyroko!!"

Ryoko scratched her head, "Uhh...okay....but what IS it?"

Washu smiled, "Thanks to some great help from Bulma, I was able to complete this thing. It's a Matter-Fusion type of device (remember it from the early chapters folks?). It can actually fuse to beings together for any length of time. I plan on using it to defeat Zyroko! Just think, if you were to fuse with say, Tsunami...the power output would be so incredible Zyroko couldn't last another second!!"

Ryoko began to peer at the machine, "Weird...fusing into one? Is that safe? And why did it look like you were carrying it up piece by piece?"

Bulma stepped forward, "I'll take over this time. You see, this device can fuse two beings into one...but wherever that fused person goes it MUST be within a range of this antennae. Or else the fusion decomposes and the two people return to normal. We had it built in Washu's lab...but remember, Washu's lab exists on 5 planets. And there's no way its signal could broadcast from that far away in the universe. So we naturally had to take it apart and relocate it back on the good ol' Earth."

Ryoko nodded, "Okay...now what about the details? Like how do we get it going? And is it permanent damage?"

Washu continued, "It is not permanent. It will last forever, until you wish to defuse yourselves. This makes it very convenient. However, in order to start the fusing process....you must wear one of these."

Washu held out two headbands, very similar to that of Ayeka's. Except each one had some kind of gem off centered in it. "One person wears this...and the other person fusing wears the other. You wear it by shrinking it down like so..."

She pushed a button, and all of the wood of the Jurain-like headband disappeared. All that remained was the gem. Washu walked up to Ryoko, and pushed the gem into Ryoko's forehead. There was a slight sensation, and all of a sudden a glowing band appeared on Ryoko's forehead. Before she could protest, the beam of energy that had wrapped itself around her head quickly materialized. The headband that had once been in Washu's hand, now was being worn by Ryoko.

Washu spoke, "Now, the once the other person does the same...you two fuse, and that's that. It's very simple. Just take this *shrinks other headband down to jewel and hands jewel to Ryoko* and go now, fuse with Tsunami...and rid of us Zyroko once and for all! You'll notice that it's very similar to that of a Jurain's, like Ayeka's tiara. I had to modify the machine so it could fuse people together remotely...and decided Jurai energy would be the best medium. I quickly decided that I had a lot of faith in you...and that most likely you'd fuse with another Jurain. So it worked out good, eh?"

Ryoko tucked the gem away, and turned to Washu, "What about Goku and Vegeta? Did Gohan ever get them healed?"

Washu lowered her head. Bulma shook hers, "No, Ryoko. Gohan never came back...luckily, Goku and Vegeta ARE fully healed in one of Washu's tanks...I'll show them to you."

Bulma took out one of the portable computers Washu had given her, and typed away. Out of the ground, two holes opened up. Within moments two cylinder-like tanks came up. Inside each was blue colored water, with two floating bodies as well. All previous wounds of Goku and Vegeta were gone; their hair waved back and forth. But both were still fast asleep...

Ryoko looked at them closely, "If they are healed...why don't you wake them up? They are both more experienced and stronger than I am."

Washu placed her hand on Ryoko's arm, the one that contained her gem (the one that she normally has, you know, from Tenchiken?). "While they are healed, the healing process put them in a state of coma. We need something to jump start their systems. I modified the structure to take one of your gems...for temporary use. Would you be willing to part with it for now?"

Ryoko needed no other words, and promptly put her hand over Washu's. She smiled, and concentrated for a brief moment. Several strands of bright light shone out from underneath both Washu and Ryoko's hands, and they parted. Washu looked inside her palm, and saw the red, shiny, spherical body of one of Ryoko's gems looking back at her.

Ryoko talked, "I don't need it right now. Ryo-Ohki is at Kami's lookout. I think you'd take care of it fine. Once the gem is in place, how long will it take to get Goku and Vegeta back to normal?"

Washu did not hesitate, and placed the gem in a slot centralized between Goku and Vegeta's tanks. She pressed two or three buttons, and stepped back. "It depends really. Seeing as they are both non-humans, it could take a while. Maybe an hour at the most...but the process starts right now. Thank you for cooperating so much Ryoko. You certainly have changed....almost grown up."

Ryoko smiled, "Thank you, mom. I assume Tenchi is staying here so that his human genes don't come close to Zyroko, eh? Oh and while your at it...say "hi" to the others for me. I haven't seen Chi-Chi, Katsuhito-sama, Noboyuki, or Mihoshi in....well, a year. It would mean a lot to me if you did."

Washu nodded, "Of course. They are off at the fields, scavenging for food right now. Don't worry, you'll see them soon enough."

Ryoko replied, "When this is all over..."

Washu was very proud at that moment. Within a few minutes she had seen her daughter change before her eyes. No longer was she the annoying, obsessive, violent, and vulgar woman she had known. She was now humble, caring, even respecting her as her mother. She truly was something that she would never regret creating...or rather, giving birth to.

Ryoko turned to walk away, but stopped next to Ayeka. She placed her arm on Ayeka's shoulder, "Ayeka...I know we've never gotten along. And that you can never forgive me for what harm I've done to you and your people. Not enough apologies can make up for that...but...I am sorry. I hope that when this IS all over, we can become better friends. Many times I was unfairly wrong to you....and now that I've had a year to think things over, I've decided it just isn't worth it anyone. I come back...and the first thing we do is go on a girl's night out, k?"

Ayeka was shocked beyond belief, and the serene smile Ryoko gave at the end didn't help. Her mouth was wide open, and it continued to be as Ryoko stepped away and floated up in the air.

She waved good-bye, "I'll see you in a bit. In case Tsunami doesn't succeed, this little device is sure to work! See you all soon!!"

She let her ki bellow around her for one quick moment, and shot off. Her golden trail remained embedded in the sky for several moments...before fading away.

Washu sighed, "Just what DID you two do in that room?"

Tenchi shrugged, "She was very pensive most of the time...she seemed like she was very hurt by what had happened on the Shunga II. I think she's reached a new level...not only of physical strength...but mental strength as well. I wish her luck."

Bulma nodded, "As do I."

They all looked onward at the sky, lingering there for a moment. Ayeka was still shocked, her entire body shaking in surprise.

"Girl's....night...out?!"

At the gates, Azaka and Kamidake stared off into space.

"She's ....blond..."

"And her eyes are....blue..."

**********

Sound travels quite differently underwater. One can yell and scream all they want to on air, but once they submerge any sound wave at all pierces to your ears like lightning. It's a pity that most normal humans' hearing underwater is filtered out by the ambient noises of water splashing, floating, bubbling...knowing what truly hides within the depths would unleash a whole new line of truths.

These were the thoughts Zyroko thought as his eyes panned across the landscape underwater. Apparently, he had knocked Tsunami down into a type of sea. It was very large, his mere eyes could not see beyond its watery space. However, his mind and ki-sensing did much more than eyes. Where had Tsunami gone? After she had plunged into the water, he had noticed that she seemed to drop off her ki, thus becoming invisible to him. For if he couldn't directly see her...and her ki was low enough, she could hide indefinitely.

Zyroko cursed. Damn, perhaps I scared her too much? That wasn't nearly enough to stop her... And he hadn't felt even the slightest trickle leaving the sea; she hadn't left either.

"Which means..." He said aloud, his voice easily going all around through the waves. His eyes moved back and forth; the evil pupils trying to catch even a glimpse of Tsunami.

"That somewhere...she is here."

Zyroko began walking across the bottom, bubbles escaping his lips. With the given options, just where could she be?

"Indeed, I am here."

*BAM!*

Zyroko found himself eating dirt, his face being slammed into the seabed with great force. Almost right away, the thing pushing him down let off. Spitting out some mud, Zyroko jumped away and turned himself around. He raised his fists, ready to fight.

No one was there. All that seemed to scuttle about were a few crabs and fish. Strands of seaweed swayed back and forth.

Zyroko rubbed a slightly bruised bump on the back of his head, "What the hell was that? Is that fucking bitc...What the?"

Zyroko blinked his eyes. About 100 feet away, standing high atop a small plateau...was Tsunami. Her Grey hair fluttered in the water, and she seemed as if nothing had changed at all. A gust of bubbles came up from below on the sea floor, covering her up for a brief moment. When Zyroko looked again, she was gone. Vanished....

Zyroko whirled around, "Damn!"

*POW!*

Too late. A hard-hitting fist came from his flank, the knuckles making its dent upon Zyroko's teeth. Zyroko spun around like a top, slightly slowed by the water. He hit the bottom and skidded about for a ways, before launching his fists forward. In mid-roll his fingertips dug into the ground, and a swift burst of strength allowed him to halt any further skidding.

He jumped to his legs, preparing to unleash hell. "Nani?"

*KABAM!* Out of nowhere again, the familiar arm came upon Zyroko's face; flashes of light emitted from every blow. Zyroko tried his best to see what the hell was going on, but all he could see was bubbles and water, on occasion the seabed as his face, or another body part, would slam into it.

He backed up against a canyon wall, wild eyed, looking all around. A quick glance above saw him his target; Tsunami glided gracefully through the water.

Zyroko turned one hand over, the palm facing up, "There you are! FINISH FLASH!"

Powering up yet another one of his quick attacks, a yellow ball appeared in Zyroko's upturned palm. It grew rapidly to a diameter of about a foot, and in to time at all it found itself cutting through the water as if it weren't even there.

Zyroko grinned with glee; the blast was going right on target, and Tsunami had no way out. But as Zyroko watched with a smile, it turned into a look of shock. Right as the blast hit Tsunami, Tsunami's entire figure distorted. Her body actually spread apart, leaving a gaping, bloodless hole right through her. Through this opening the blast went, virtually not touching a single part of Tsunami. Once the energy ball was clearly away, Tsunami's body returned to normal. Zyroko was going to scratch his head at that moment, if he had had time. For Tsunami all of a sudden thrust her right arm forward, and it seemed to actually disappear as if going through a portal. Only her right shoulder showed, and beyond that the arm had gone..

In front of Zyroko, a bit of water pushed passed him. As he looked down, he saw in slow motion a fist, arm and all, construct itself right in front of his face. There was no pause, but rather a freezing of time then. For when Zyroko did utter a single thought on it, the fist had already hit him in the face, sent him sprawling, and gone off into the waters again.

*BOM!*

Zyroko rubbed his pulverized cheeks, and silently watched as Tsunami sunk lower into the water, coming down next to him. He spit out some blood, the gas-like blood streams rising up towards the surface. He stood up again, regaining his balance and his base. He nodded at Tsunami.

"What the hell was that all about woman? What are you, a witch? Right out of nowhere you..."

*PUNCH!*

Without even moving an inch, a large, muscular leg in a blue karate gi whipped across Zyroko's face. He managed to not fall down this time, but after spitting out a tooth, more blood flowing out, and turning around full of anger...one could say the attack was effective none the less.

Tsunami's voice rang out, becoming even clearer within the water, "Know this, demon. My name is Tsunami. Translated that means 'Big Ocean Wave.' Did you not think that when my very name and body were made from the waters, the sea...the wonders of the deep...did you not think I would have some advantage?"

Zyroko screamed out, "Advantage?! You're throwing punches at me from hundreds of feet away and hitting! You don't even move and yet I get nailed somehow? I'd say you're manipulating the very fabric of dimensions to pull such a feat!"

Tsunami shook her head, "No, ignorant one. I may have once been a goddess, but those powers are not one with me. Let me put in pure and simple talk. So that your stubborn brain can register: Since I am from the water, I can control the water. Virtually down to the atomic level. By mere thought I can project body parts out of the stuff. Making my body diffuse so I can spread out, avoiding ki blasts, for instance, is a snap. You may see my physical body here, but when I touch water my soul is one with that. I exist ALL AROUND you. Even at this very moment, the water moving past your ears is me. The water going up your nose, is me. The water entering your mouth when you talk, making you curse the saltiness of the sea, is me. You cannot hide as long as you're in this environment. Really...I'd think someone who had absorbed Piccolo would have figure that out by now!"

Zyroko swiped the water with his left arm, "Bullshit! You think I'd buy that? And plus it doesn't matter who or what I absorb. Their power is assimilated with me. I am ever lasting. Petty water tricks can not even fathom a victory against me."

Tsunami narrowed her eyes at Zyroko, her beautiful red pupils concentrated on him. "You call this..."

*BAM!* *POW!* *SLAM!* *CRASH!*

The sentence still unfinished from Tsunami's lips, Zyroko lay in a writhing heap. This time only large bunches of the sea's water had slammed into him, knocking him all over the place. Underneath his skin in several places, blood began to gush up as he internally bled. She had hit him so hard his holded breath had been forced out; a stream of blood and bubbles rising up to the surface.

"...a petty water trick?"

He lay on his back, angry gaze towards the sun shining through the surface. "Yes...I DO!!"

He zanzokenned, leaving the line of site for Tsunami. Behind her, a rush of water told her his location. Zyroko teleported back behind Tsunami, both arms and hands raised for a double hit. As he swung at Tsunami, her body literally split in half, evading the arms. Her top half shot back, hovering over Zyroko. She bent her elbow, and dropped down drastically. Zyroko's back was exposed, and he could feel his spinal cord *SNAP!* as Tsunami gave her version of "The People's Elbow" directly to the battered Zyroko's back.

His body hitting rock, going through it like a hot knife though butter. Tsunami gathered the water all around the hole, pushing down. A large burst of pressure hit Zyroko, pushing him farther and harder down. Seeing no way out, he got out from under the water, going through the ground horizontally.

"Ha! Let's see her stop me now..."

He exploded out from the ground, rising up into the water. He dashed for the surface, trying to escape Tsunami's advantage.

"I'll just fry the whole sea if I hate to..."

Tsunami watched him closely. Those last few words hit her especially hard. She quickly glanced around, time near at a stand still. Fish scurried about, looking for food. Crabs scuttled about the seaweed, which undulated in the ocean current. So much life...nature at its best. By taking out the lake...only more innocent lives, big or small, would be lost again.

"I won't allow it."

About 30 feet from the surface, an extended arm shot forward. With itself coming from above, and Zyroko rushing up from below...the two collided with a large tremor and crash.

Zyroko moved back, eyes closed from the shock of the quick attack. "HMMPHH!!" Strands of hair snapped ahead, jostled by the hard hit from Tsunami.

Tsunami stepped into a water portal, instantly moving her body to right above Zyroko. Zyroko looked up, and saw Tsunami rush down at his face with her open hand. The fingers curled around his head, grasping him with speed and strength like no other.

Tsunami shot down towards the sea bed, Zyroko being carried by his face. She screamed out, increasing her speed to incredible heights.

"HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYAH!!!!" Tsunami's white fire of an aura glowed about her, as she approached the bottom. With Zyroko writhing and struggling all the way, she flew down parallel to a canyon wall; the arm holding Zyroko closest.

She shot her arm out, slamming it into the rock wall. Zyroko's face nailed into the rock face, riding directly through it as Tsunami zoomed passed. He felt the very veins and bones in his skull crack and buckle, the rocks cutting up his head like Freddy Krueger.

Tsunami bunched her right arm muscles, the very ones pushing Zyroko's head through the underwater stone. She cocked her arm back, and threw as hard as she could. Zyroko, cape being torn to pieces by the force underwater, cut right through the canyon wall. Giant crevices snapped open in the ocean floor; Zyroko's body going right through the canyon and into the solid ground. Giant stone plateaus and pillars exploded as Zyroko passed below them underground. An undersea mountain lay in his way, and he sailed right into it from underground.

The mountain cracked apart and glowed for a second; a flash ensued and the entire mountain fell in a pile of rubble. Clouds of silt rose up and went out in concentric circles. For a brief moment, the fighting had stopped. Tsunami passed through her infinite passages of water portals, Janenba-style, again. She touched down right in front of the cloudy space that was the underwater mountain. Something that big being destroyed would take some time to settle all the dust. She patiently waited, looking for the slightest bit of movement. A few rock chunks landed back on the ground, having gone so far up they had exited the water, only to splash in again. All was quiet.

A quick, blinding figure jumped out of the sand clouds and ran at Tsunami, "Don't be at peace YET!"

Zyroko was livid, and he had virtually no hesitation as he began to mercilessly assault Tsunami. His right arm reared back, its muscles poised. He clenched his fist together, and made a wide, swinging punch at Tsunami. Tsunami's body parted in the middle, diffusing into the water. The punch sailed directly through the now-open area, and hit not one bit of her. Seizing her chance, Tsunami kicked her legs up high and wide, flipping her body around so sharply that she clunked Zyroko square in the chin and managed to flip back onto her feet.

Zyroko fired off backwards, going back into the cloud of debris around the mountain. Tsunami disappeared from view; easily moving her physical body anywhere she wanted. From inside the still cloudy water above the ruined mountain, punches, kicks, shockwaves, screams of pain, grunts, and blood being forced out of the body.

Zyroko fell out, his cloths nearly totally torn off his body. Tsunami was about 10 meters away, and decided to end the water match. She allowed her arms to vanish, making them reappear behind Zyroko. The two arms caught Zyroko, closing the wrists together like Vegeta's Final Flash. Tsunami was a ways away in front of Zyroko, but she was collecting ki for an energy beam right behind him.

Zyroko's eyes looked back, seeing the energy ball being created right behind his back. He turned to the stead-fast Tsunami ahead of him, and shot her a menacing sneer.

"Damn you!!"

Tsunami blasted her ki up, white heat and energy flowing all around her body. Within a few microseconds the energy attack was ready. She yelled out the command, setting the blast off:

"HA-DAMA!!!"

A blue sphere flashed into view behind Zyroko's back, held by Tsunami's cupped hands. It held back for a moment, and slammed forward. If Zyroko had any fillings, he would have lost them then. His arms and legs trailing behind, the ki ball sent him flying upwards like a rocket. His shrill voice carried throughout the waters.

On the surface, where a temporary silence had befallen the waters, all hell broke loose. Zyroko, carried on top of the Ha-Dama, exploded through the water. The water and waves fired outwards, spreading the sea apart like something Moses might have done. Zyroko rose up in the sky, his burnt and beaten body struggling to gain a hold of the situation.

He flipped himself around, acting with just enough speed to hold the large Ha-Dama in his hands. Ki seethed up and around his hands, scalding them. His arms bulged and tightened; veins and arteries showing up right at the skin.

He gasped for air, his strength nearly leaving him, "Errrr, yirahh....errah...I...err...will not...let this....errr....end..it...Uhhrha....NOW!!!"

He dug his fingers right into the ball, closing them up and taking a hold of the energy attack. His power just barely enough, he yelled out and threw the ki ball upwards.

"AHHHHHIIIIIIIYAH!!!!"

The blue-white ball was released from his hands, sailing upwards so fast it left sight in less than a second. Zyroko remained looking towards the sky, his lungs doing with whatever strength Zyroko had left to breath. His eyes had blood and tears dripping down to the earth. Sweat and burns were covering up his entire back and abdomen, not to mention his arms. His Piccolo Cape and Yamcha upper karate gi had totally burned off; all that remained was his badly torn white pants that Clay had given him from the beginning.

The symbol embroded on top of Zyroko's belt buckle, that of Dr. Clay's insignia, remained untouched.

Out of the deep blue, rose the goddess once more. Her silvery fired hair waved behind her like a wind sock in a gale. Her malevolent pink eyes looked seriously at Zyroko, wounded and terrible looking. Even more so when her pristine, compact body totally surfaced and leveled on Zyroko's plane.

She rotated her arm, stretching out a bit, "I suppose if you can't take the water, you get out of the ocean. Smart move, I might say to that...hey. That is really disgusting you know. How much longer will you remain in that beaten-up form? Just regenerate already."

Zyroko stopped the traditional DBZ-"Shaking", and smiled. "Hehehe...of all of them...none were the same. Not like you. I've been beaten and splattered all across air, water, and ground now. I see that using mere percentages of my net power won't be enough. I'm going to have to show you want I'm capable of right away..."

Majin Buu-style, his burns, cuts, bruises, scrapes, and other wounds faded away almost instantly. His body regained its normal proportions, and his clothing reappeared over his skin. The white cape dropped down, fluttering in the wind. The red Karate gi covered up his chest. His Goddess Gem Earrings clinked down from their eternal hooks upon his lobes. He reached up and dust off his attire. Adjusting a few strands of hair here and there; making sure his newly regenerated clothing was not strewn about in any fashion.

Zyroko run his hands through his spiky, black, Brolly-like hair. His dark eyes sparkled, an evil glint his victims knew all too well.

"I said that it was time to get serious...and despite the details, such as me being evil, murderous, sneaky, bitter, etc....I do keep my word."

Tsunami floated a little bit a ways, "I won't get in your way. Power up to your heart's content."

Zyroko smiled, stretching his arms out in sweeping motions, "As always...too kind. You'll soon see that to be your downfall."

Zyroko raised his arms to the sky, stretching out to his full height. For many moments he was rigid their. His eyes fixated on a single point above, and it just happened to be the sun. Pupils dilating; mind focusing; senses spreading outwards....he was ready.

His arms came down with a crash, his voice screaming out loud and clear.

"HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

*CRACK!* *BOOM!* *BANG!*

Within a single instant moment, chaos took place of order. Tsunami's world was turned upside down. The sky became black from white. The water the both of them had just exited poured out its own sea bed. A desperate wind, like one coming from the strongest winds of the heavens blasted across the terrain. Tsunami was thrown backwards with great force, so much that she actually lost track of what was happening for a second or two.

Her hair blew up and all over her face, and she had to brush it out of the way more than once in the gale. She narrowed her eyes a bit, shielding herself from the bits of dust and rock flying out from the tornado-like wind emitted from Zyroko. She thought to herself, Why didn't he start out like this? He's powering up much faster than I did...and he could have taken me out before I completed my transformation. That fool...now it's too late.

Tsunami bunched her body up into a ball, gathering and concentrating her energy all around her body. Within moments, her power matched that of the rising Zyroko's. Her now-petite body, all round up like a moon of blue color, glowed a bright white as her ki levels began to soar. She paused for a little while, the ever-tantalizing moment before the storm hits.

She threw her arms and legs out, allowing her aura to expand and fire away from her body like a dome. Instantly the dome collided with that of Zyroko's growing aura. Rather than have any sort of 'battle', both large and strong barriers of energy dropped out. Their powers equal, both had cancelled each other out.

Now all that remained was Zyroko and Tsunami, floating high in the sky parallel to each other. Their hot-white ki auras zipped around their bodies, their figures totally encased within the flames. Electric bolts danced like fireflies off of the two of them, and the ground shook from their power even while just floating. The sun shined down upon them, the clouds long since parted from the power-ups.

Zyroko lowered his head and arms, "Well, I've said before and I'll say it again...ready?"

Tsunami nodded. And so did Zyroko. Their auras began to enlarge and expand, hitting into each other. This time they merged, making one gigantic flame of clear white around the both of them. The very ground beneath them swayed back and forth, up and down, and all around from the tremendous shockwaves going out.

Tsunami raised her hands up in fighting position, and zanzokenned out of place. Zyroko, now much more alert, zanzokenned as well. The white flame was empty for s split second. Time seemed to freeze as it was. The world became dull and grey, Birds were halted in mid flight. Fish stopped swimming in mid-stroke. Moles balked digging in mid -dig. The entire planet held its breath as the climatic moment arrived.

*BOOOOM!!!!*

Zyroko's fist slammed into Tsunami's fist. A bright white shockwave exploded out, causing mountains to collapse right below their feet. This was followed by another hit, this time hitting low. Zyroko sneered and jumped back a few feet, readying his left leg for a kick.

*KAPOW!*

In a quick sweeping motion, Zyroko delivered a strong side kick at Tsunami's front. Luckily, Tsunami's forearms shot up fast enough to block the attack. Her arms began to bleed, rivulets of red dripping down her muscles to her blue gi. There was a moment of slight fear in Tsunami, seeing her own blood in front of her. Yet, that fear turned quickly into iron determination. She pushed Zyroko's leg out of her way, her arms flapping out and pushing with a deft snap of the wrists. She quickly flew to the side, and charged ahead at Zyroko's side.

Her head lined right up with her spinal cord, turning into a silver-haired battering ram. Zyroko saw her coming, and tried to send a right kick down her way. She darted to the left, avoiding it with ease. She drove up at full speed, nailing right below Zyroko's right arm. Zyroko felt his very organs *SNAP* and crash into his opposite side; lungs, heart, stomach...all were roughed about.

Tsunami's head was nearly a full 3 inches imbedded into Zyroko's now softened side. However, the pain wasn't enough to keep Zyroko from fighting. He spat out blood from a redded mouth, and raised his arm high to the sky. Firing down like a hammer, he slammed his elbow into Tsunami.

She sailed downwards, nothing holding her back, "Uhhhhhh...."

Her blue body was already right over ground, and Zyroko laughed with glee as he saw her plunge. Riding along a "cloud" of his ki, he flew down after her. Tsunami was able to shake herself to her senses, with only moments to go before she would impact the earth. She flipped her body around, turning her feet towards the coming ground. She used a quick blast of her ki, and she slowed down significantly. Her feet came to a rest on the floor, and she tried to catch her breath for a moment. However, as she turned back her head slowly to see where Zyroko was...she got a shocking image right in front of her:

Zyroko's boot.

*BAM!!!!*

Zyroko slammed into the planet's floor, sending Tsunami through it. She grunted with an exertion of pain, and sped off out of the newly-made crater. Zyroko was flying backwards, away from Tsunami. She rushed up to him, attacking with strength and precision. However, the Piccolo-minded Zyroko was able to get the better of the attacks. He spun around, causing his white cape to flare up into Tsunami's face. Though she could fight without seeing, sensing her opponent's ki, the cape did distract her.

Zyroko took advantage of the situation, and zanzokenned behind Tsunami (cape still wrapped around her head). He shot forward and grabbed both of her arms, pinning them behind her back. Tsunami's ligaments stretched and neared breaking. Zyroko twisted her harder, hearing tiny breaks and cracks from her taunt arms. Tsunami bit her lip, and held the pain back. Her entire arms were nearly torn from their sockets, yet Zyroko began to wonder why no sounds of pain had omitted themselves from Tsunami's tight mouth.

He whispered into her ear, "I see someone has quite the nerves under her control."

Tsunami's face was that of rigid apathy, "I can't say I'd say the same about you."

*KAPOW!*

Tsunami had kicked her leg up, and then down fast. Faster than Zyroko could see it coming. It kicked down and behind her, and ran directly into Zyroko. Right between the legs. Unlike Tsunami, Zyroko immediately felt it. Like a pit in his stomach, growing insanely gigantic....a leviathan churning his entire body into mush. He felt a rush of blood come up into his lungs, and he coughed. A thick, red spray exited from his mouth. He let go of Tsunami, allowing her to break free of the stranglehold. Zyroko backed off, but his head was starting to become clear once more...

The ground buckled under Tsunami, as she dropped near instantly straight down. Her feet touched the ground and landed, her head turned up, poised at Zyroko. Zyroko shook the pain off, and blasted down towards Tsunami. He wasn't as fast as Tsunami, but he could sure move quickly for a bulky man like he was. With a wave of heat and wind blasted down behind him, he made contact with solid earth.

He jumped ahead, lunging like a juggernaut at his foe. The silver-streaked woman saw him well ahead of time, and ducked easily a wide kick. Steam blasting out of his enraged head, Zyroko flipped around and attempted a vertical kick.

His metal boot sliced through the ground, the tip shooting off a rain of sparks. Tsunami jumped to the side, and fell downwards. She landed on her right palm, and using the position to her advantage, she focused all of her weight on the hand. With Zyroko's missing boot still going by her head in slow-motion, she kicked upwards with a quickly extended left leg. Her boot snapped upwards, nailing Zyroko in the chin. His eyes closed involuntarily for a moment. His large bulk moved a bit backwards, before his eyes came open again. His eyes filled with vehemence, he reached out and grabbed the leg Tsunami had kicked him with.

He spun around, bringing Tsunami into the beginnings of a circle. He began to draw her closer, his fist ready to fire outwards and jab her at point-blank-range. Tsunami saw this coming, and allowed him to bring her in. Right before he could raise his hand to strike, she shot her foot ahead, behind his head (she was spinning and being drawn in, remember?). She kicked his head from behind, causing him not only to *snap* forward, but released her as well.

Zyroko stumbled; his plan wasn't working out at all. He looked at Tsunami, as she gracefully came to a stop a few feet ahead. Her body was a bit scratched, and a few pieces of clothing were torn or bleeding. But other than that, she was in perfect condition. Zyroko had beaten her around and held his own, but she had been like a hurricane compared to his meek winds.

Tsunami brushed her long, smooth silver hair back, it's many strands blowing in the wind. "It would seem this battle has dragged on far too long. I said I would be the one to kill you. After all those horrible acts you committed...the strong evil that exists in your cold heart. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had swallowed Piccolo Daimou rather than Piccolo."

Zyroko straightened up, "Hehe....hahhaha......you may have a point there...at least about me having SOME part of Piccolo in me. I think I'll show you that now...for both our viewing pleasure."

Tsunami raised an eyebrow, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Zyroko did not reply, but instead rose up above the ground, gliding quickly into the sun-shined sky high up. When he was nearly out of view, he stopped. He widened his stance, making sure he could see Tsunami square between his shoulder. He closed one eye, ensuring that his aim would be dead on.

"THIS is what I mean by it!"

He raised his index and middle fingers on his right hand up, making them stop upon his forehead. Tsunami realized what he was doing all too late, for now there was no where she could hide. Zyroko began to channel energy in his body; tiny electrical sparks were now flowing and bouncing off of the tips of the two fingers. A *FLASH* exploded out, and now the electricity increased. Yellow waves of ki began to gather around the ends of his two fingers. An eerily familiar golden glow developed at his forehead, a small pinpoint of ki growing ever and ever stronger.

Zyroko brought his two extended fingers away from his forehead. They were now hot-yellow; Tsunami wondered how he could hold such a volatile bit of energy so close to his body. Well, at least it was obvious what he would do with it. Tsunami looked around. The area they were in was fairly desolate, but she knew that only a few miles over there were some settlements. And in-between there and here, even she could sense many life forms...big and small. She wasn't about to let them down as well. Life was far to precious...except for...

She grimaced, her frown expressing much anger, "HIM. Only his life can be put out...in order to save everything else. No choice but to stay the ground this time..."

She put her arms foreword, her eyes closed in deep concentration. Everything became oblivious to her, she let her mind wander as she called forth her inner skills. Earth, sun, moon, stars, water, ice, fire, life, death...all coursed through like an endless river. She channeled this emotions into her hands, and then out in front of her. One by one, silent, transparent, glowing, "ghosts" appeared in front of her. Each was in the shape of a stretched out pentagon, and there were 10 in total.

Tsunami's own trump card had been pulled, the 10 wings of the Lighthawk.

Zyroko saw this from above, his arm raised high and ready to throw his ki attack, "Ooh? You don't plan on running this time, eh? Very well, this attack was specially mastered just for the purpose of punching through such inferior shielding...."

Both of their powers were at the peak and pinnacle of whatever limit they had. This was the final test; the ultimate challenge. The fight was reaching its climatic moment at last. Both Zyroko and Tsunami knew there was no need for pause, so they went through with it.

Zyroko brought his arm up as high as it possibly could, and then brought them equal in the opposite direction...throwing them downwards at Tsunami with every reserve of strength, ki, and piece of determination he had.

"MAKANKOUSAPPO!!!!"

The devil screw beam of hell fired from his finger tips like an arrow. It's center shaft, significantly pumped up and stronger than any time Piccolo had use the move, was surrounded by an insanely bright corkscrew. It cut through matter itself with no effort, and it was on a crash course with Tsunami. Tsunami, and the land, water, and air around her lost its color. Everything became a uniform bright yellow.

In return, Tsunami brought her 10 wings together so that they converged upon a center point. That point became a shield, composed of Lighthawk power. She lined it up with the coming beam, as so if it were going to hit her...it would have to go through the shield first.

The sheer speed of the attack was incredibly, and it got right to its destination in no time. It crashed into the LH Wing shield...knocking so much force into Tsunami that she felt her very teeth come near-loose in her mouth. The rock and stone all around her instantly was vaporized and blown into dust. A tornado effect began swirl about her, as she struggling to hold the attack back. Her wings could only convert the deadly Makankousappo's ki waves into harmless energy only so fast....and it seemed like Zyroko had a near infinite quantity coming at her.

:HA HA HA HAHAHHHHA!! NOW.....DIE!!"

Zyroko shot his full power into the beam, causing a rather large bulge to build up and swell along the beam's length. Tsunami dropped to her knees, her muscles burning for oxygen and rest. She nearly gave up every ounce of strength she had holding it. Yellow streaks streamed passed her eyes.

The same eyes that had witnessed countless millennia...

She had loved her existence, and she pledged that she would always work towards a better future. It had really started with the Jurains. She had grown rather attached to them, and that is probably why she ended up giving them her power. The many days of providing mere mortals with a taste of eternal youth. They loved her in return, and life was peaceful.

Yet the same eyes had seen other things. Unspeakable acts that literally torn apart her psyche. Witnessing the anguish Washu had felt...losing her husband and child. Seeing someone with such a good heart be taken advantage of, like Ryoko. Someone like Kagato using human life as his play thing....thirsting for more pointless power. Dr. Clay's malicious experimentation...her eyes had seen so much beauty, yet so much horror....

And now, those eyes were seeing that horror return. She was not about to let it happen again.

Tsunami began to speak out, her voice loud enough over the pulsating whirl of the beam.

"No Zyroko, that won't be happening any time soon. I have let things in my existence turn into terrifying events...I am not going to let that happen ANYMORE!!!!!!!"

Her arms ignited in the white glow of the Lighthawk Wings, and she threw them forward at the Makankousappo. The yellow-gold of the beam was being challenged by the blue-white of her celestial wings, and he was losing. Fast.

A small glowing white sphere grew and glowed more and more intensely in the center of the 10-Wing-Circle. It sparkled, its circumference packed with unbelievable Jurai Power.

"LIGHTHAWK-DAMA!!!"

Out of the 10 Wings, the sphere flashed in a brilliant display of light, and took off. It went directly into the Makankousappo, tearing the beam apart from the center-shaft out. Particles of white and gold energy began to rain upon the Earth below; tiny craters being created when the energy melted through the ground. Zyroko looked in surprise as his attack was being torn to shreds, and luckily noticed at the last second that the ball of energy Tsunami had sent up was nearly upon him...

His eyes opened wide for a moment, his entire body (and the sky above) bathed in the bright white light. He forcefully made the energy in his finger to drop, and with no time to lose grabbed his own body with his ki, and shot it downwards. The Lighthawk-Dama blasted pass his face, only a few feet to spare. He could feel the capillaries in his cheeks vibrate, a few of them popping. That was one hell of a shockwave...

The Lighthawk-Dama zoomed up to the sky, and out of sight. The earthquakes which had just plagued the fighting grounds of the former beam-battle ceased. Dust settled. Clouds returned to their original form. Animals went back about their daily lives. Water seeped back through the countless cracks within the earth.

Life, which could remake itself in any way or form, was recovering. Tsunami sighed; this was what she had wanted. And it was now time to confirm that decision once and for all.

Zyroko was still a good 100 feet above her in the air, while she was on the ground. He was breathing hard, but wasn't saying anything. And she knew why: He had nothing left. That beam constituted his best efforts. And those efforts were beaten down by hers. Now, it was the right moment.

Tsunami raised her two arms towards Zyroko, high above her. The 10 Lighthawk wings followed up the arms, propelled by invisible Jurai energy. The wings then parted, something Zyroko had never seen before. 5 of the wings went and hovered above her extended, raised left arm. The other 5 Wings went and hovered above her extended, raised right arm. They formed a Penta-star, with all the wings converged upon a center axis. It was exactly like what Tenchi had done before, except this time there were 5 wings instead of three...and there were two "shurikens."

Zyroko looked hard at what she was doing, "No...you wouldn't..."

She lowered her chin a bit, the same eyes focused on him, "I just did."

*FLASH!* *FLASH!*

The shurikens didn't even need to wind up this time. Tsunami used her control to instantly start them spinning. Now, she had two very large, very bright...white Kienzans like those of Kuririn and Tenchi. They were much larger then anything Zyroko had in his memory banks. Each disk was still just as thin, and just as deadly.

Tsunami began to draw back her arms to throw, "You seem to recognize this, don't you? I saw your best attack just now. Now it's time to see MINE. These aren't normal Kienzans. Like Tenchi, they are made of Lighthawk Wings. Like Tenchi, I can also control them at will. And like Kuririn, they can slice through virtually anything. The difference here is obvious, and not so obvious. Of course you see the obvious fact that there are two disks...but..."

She held the disks, ready to let them fly, "I think you'll see the other advantage soon enough!"

With that, Tsunami heaved the two Lighthawk Shurikens. The twin energy buzz saws moved like they were light itself. Zyroko saw them branch out, and knew they were going to cut in...and cut him as well.

*BBBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZ!!!*

Just as the two LH-Shurikens were upon him, his figure vanished...zanzokenning out of the way. *Bzzzzzz* The disks missed their target. Zyroko reappeared elsewhere in the sky. Tsunami sensed his presence right away, again...and the disks turned right around. Zyroko saw he couldn't waste time...and began to frantically fly at a blistering pace. His hair rode behind him, his cape nearly tearing off.

"If I get touched by one of those things again....grrr, I will NOT this time."

Jumping all around, he gained a little ground on the two Kienzans-like attacks. They had no regard of what they went through; they both sliced up a dozen mountains before they were airborne again. Zyroko looked behind himself, and saw that he should go on the offensive. He raised his hands, the fingers separated and spread out, the palm wide. He charged up a universal ki wave, the same old golden energy swelling in his possession. He noticed one disk swaying off course, and lined up his shot.

*ZAPOW!*

The ki ball was sent off, the round, aerodynamic energy mass quickly moving at the shuriken. With no resistance what so ever, it exploded upon the surface of the blue oval. Zyroko began to smile in satisfaction, the smoke covering up the area the disk had been for a moment or two.

*BZZZZZZZZZZ!!*

Catching Zyroko completely off guard, the disk he had just shot at sliced it's way through the thick smoke. He jumped backwards, trying to get away from the infernal attack. Wherever he went, the damn thing hounded him. Moving backwards he could keep his eye on the deadly Lighthawk arrangement...and move away from it. But...

Zyroko realized the problem, and quickly looked around and panned the skies, "Where is the other one...? Hey......!?!?!"

His gaze briefly, ever so tantalizingly briefly, looked at his back. Bearing down upon him, was the 2nd disk. It's serrated edges gleamed in the sunlight at that moment. Time stopped. The world became a picturesque of dull blues and grays. Zyroko's eyes twitched, an involuntary measure most would assume would happen when one's life is in dire straights. His mind blankened, his sight blackened, and he felt his arm....go backwarded. (Heh, just trying to make up words by this point...)

*SPLASH!*

A rather hefty amount of red stained the rocks, the wine-colored fluid seeping down towards gravity....and destiny. The maroon intermixing with dirt and parasites....representing the worst blood someone would ever lay eyes upon. Yet Zyroko's eyes did see just that, as he snapped out of his trance.

The disk had cut right through his arm, severing it. Blood poured out as the arm ever so slowly began to fall off...

Tsunami suddenly brought up her hands suddenly, making them go through a series of fast, intricate movements. The short display ended as soon as it began, and it did so by Tsunami thrusting her two extended index and pointer fingers out to the side...

*BOOM!!!*

Out of the Lighthawk Disk that was just in-between Zyroko's body and his cut off arm, a blazingly bright beam flashed out and flared out on the side the arm was slowly falling down (this is all happening in slow-mo...). Instantaneously, the arm vanished...totally blown away by the strange and QUICK attack. After letting loose its blast, the Lighthawk Shuriken began to grow unstable, and broke apart. The 5 Lighthawk wings floated back to Tsunami. A now right-arm-less Zyroko stood in the sky, baffled and bleeding.

"Bu...but...but how?"

Tsunami raised her hand upwards, catching the 5 wings around her. The stayed for a moment, before disappearing back into their hiding place that was Tsunami's mind.

"I suppose you now know the other upgrade. I can fire out a special Lighthawk Wing beam out of these...and while it does destroy the shuriken, and can only be fired from one side of the weapon...it's results are quite effective *she nods towards Zyroko's bloody stump* That's the 2nd time you've lost an arm...and I believe this is also a sort-of 2nd thing for you as well..."

"Nani?" Zyroko, without even taking the time to cover up his current wound or even regenerate it...turned back around where he was originally facing.

The other disk, the one he HAD been watching before losing an appendage....was right in front of him. He had no time to react, and the shuriken sliced right through his waist. A combination of blood, intestines, and muscle fibers were torn out as the razor-sharp energy buzz saw hacked right into him. Within less time than it took to think, Zyroko was cut in half. He stared wide eyed, looking at the disk below him...separating his lower half, just like Tenchi's shuriken had done. Then he remembered the energy attack Tsunami had done before...

He looked up...at Tsunami.

"No..."

She narrowed her pupils at him, "Those killed now have vengeance."

She thrust her index and pointer fingers...both extended...upwards.

*KAAABOOM!!*

From the upper side of the shuriken, a beam of iridescent light blasted out. It slammed right through Zyroko's body cavity, exiting out the top of his skull and brain. His lost thoughts were of fear and morn...and then....

blackness.

**********

Ryoko was scanning all over the place for any sign of excess Jurai energy. Just recently she had sensed a large ouput of it. Somewhere in this wastelands....where she and Tenchi had been fighting Zyroko. But as she looked about, it seemed like an entirely new area.

Many more craters were gaping at her....she could feel that very little, if any, life-forces were about. For some strange reason...the wastelands had become more and more true to its name. Desolation. Not a single bird...not a single rustle...not a single movement...not a single yell. This was a place that shouldn't even be on Earth.

This was a place from hell....and if it wasn't for the lake she saw in front of her, she would have thought she HAD died and gone there...

Her golden hair, not burdened by the Ayeka-Tiara-like headband on her at all, flowed smoothly and luxuriously behind her. Her turquoise eyes darted back and forth...searching. A speck appeared in her vision...what was that, she thought.

It was something blue and grey...she flew in closer for a better look. It was a human. A teenage girl, it seemed. As she drew closer...she could pick out the details...

She had long, smooth grey hair...it extended all the down past her waist like a river cut out from the moon. She was wearing a tight blue karate gi, similar to the one Son Goku wore, except for it was blue instead of orange/red. On her feet was a pair of karate boots...the laceless ones any warrior could put on in the blink of an eye. About her waist fluttered an equally blue belt...and on her arms were a type of arm/knuckle pads (as I said before, like the ones Tifa wears.

Ryoko was only about 100 meters from the strange girl, when she must have heard Ryoko coming. The woman turned around, and her innocent, pink eyes went directly to Ryoko's heart.

"Sa...Sa...Sasami?!"

Ryoko sped up and touched down next to the woman. Ryoko was a face of utter surprise, while (Tsunami) was giggling quite a bit.

Ryoko approached the woman, "Who are you? You like Sa....no...Tsunami!"

Tsunami serenely nodded, "Yes, it is nice to see you again Ryoko-chan. I am Tsunami. I suppose you could call this my 'fighter's form."

Ryoko nervously got closer, and ran her fingers through Tsunami's grey hair, "I must say....that you'd almost be classed as a Super Saiyan! Hmm...or an old one at that. Too much grey! Hahah...well, anyways, what happened? I'm suppose to fuse with you so we can destroy Zyroko!"

Tsunami turned away, and pointed down below, "Look there...and you'll see how much more defeat we need....absolutely none."

She peered down there, and almost instantly vomited. Lying in a bloody, messy, dirty heap was Zyroko's legs...and just Zyroko's legs. From the belt up was a stump. long strands of intestines and backbone lay stretched out on the rock, his innards baking in the sun. Flies picked off bits and pieces of the fresh corpse.

"Ugghh...does that mean...that...it's over?"

Tsunami smiled, "Yes."

Ryoko sat down, turning her head away from the scene, "Even for a battle hardened Space Pirate like me, I am very relieved. You have no idea what type of fear he did...we trained for this day, but it looks like we won't need to use all that strength after all!"

Tsunami spoke, "I think you should be grateful for that. It's not everyday we get to appreciate peace. I hope that we can summon those balls of Son-kun...what were they called? The Dragonballs?"

Ryoko nodded in affirmation, "Yeah, that should help fix whatever problems Zyroko has caused. I tell you...you have no idea what he's done. Tenchi and I were close enough to get a picture of the horrors he performed....down to the...*tears*...littlest details."

Tsunami kneeled down and hugged Ryoko, "There there child...this is new for you. You've never felt such strong emotions for others beside Tenchi. I have to say that this...this is the first time I've ever...hated someone."

Ryoko looked up at Tsunami, her blues focused on Tsunami's pink ones. It was if they had known each other their whole lives. The peace they could now experience weighed very heavily on both of their hearts. Perhaps this meant that Tsunami could finally merge with Sasami...perhaps she could now settle with Tenchi...maybe Ayeka and her could finally have that girl's night out...maybe Goku and Vegeta would recover, and they could all prepare together for the coming of the androids.

"You know what? Life's nothing without friends like you, Tsunami."

She returned the gesture, "Yes, peace without peace between friends is no peace at all."

Ryoko got up, and so did Tsunami, "Well then, let us return to the shrine to try to start enjoying that brief peace."

Tsunami looked as if she were going to speak, her mouth beginning to open. The wind gurgling within her lungs even started to come up so she could form words...yet, no words came.

For before she could utter them, the slimy, bloody, revolting intestinal tract of Zyroko shot up suddenly, and slammed into Tsunami's face. It began to wrap itself around her head, and she quickly lost her balance and began to fall. Before she hit the ground, another intestine piece came up like a snake, making its way about her waste.

Ryoko jumped back, looking at where Zyroko's corpse had been. It wasn't there...but as she looked at the intestines quickly wrapping around Tsunami, she traced their long, worm-like bodies up and into the sky...

The torso-less legs of Zyroko floated there. From the opening above the waste, several tubes of intestines were out writhing about like the head of medusa. Two were now around Tsunami, and soon many more joined. Ryoko began to run towards Tsunami...to try to save her. But there was nothing she could do.

3 more intestines shot down from the body, and soon Tsunami was completely covered in the horrid bowels of the dead fiend. Before Tsunami's eyes, she saw the intestines begin to glow...that same glow of yellow she knew all to well...

Her lips moved, harshly whispering out with a tint of fear...

"Ab...sorb?"

The intestines flashed, blinding Ryoko's eyes. Tsunami was totally engulfed in the massive energy wave, and instantly her body was digested into pure energy. Her figure collapsed within itself, like a volleyball being deflated. Out of Zyroko's gaping severed hole, a pathway of energy flowed to and from the leg-only body of Zyroko to the now energized mass that was once Tsunami. Zyroko, now obviously alive and well, drew Tsunami's form into him.

The golden energy faded, and Ryoko looked on...unable to move. The friend she had just made peace and promises with...the memories they had just hoped for and relived...everything about her vanished as she was totally sucked into the body of Zyroko.

The legs began to glow insanely bright, shutting out Ryoko's eyes once more. She crouched down, terrified and unsure of what to do... Tears dropped down from her eyes as the wind suddenly began to whip and churn about her.

"Tsunami...what do I do? Help...me..."

Then it stopped.

There was a moment of silence...that silence everyone dreads. The type of awkwardness that no one loves....and everyone fears. Ryoko was lying down, her head in her legs. She knew exactly what would behold her when she turned around, and she contemplating turning around at all.

Yet...we must face the hardest of situations eventually...and Ryoko was no woman to back down on such.

She got up.

She began to turn.

Her eyes looked up to where Zyroko was..

A tear ran down her cheek, "My...god...is it..?"

Zyroko was there. He was full body, with torso, arms, and everything else. His white baggy pants remained, with the metallic boots. The Majin Buu-like belt, with clay symbol on the front, shined like brand new. His Yamcha gi was untorn, as if it had just been sewn up by the greatest of the greatest seamstresses. On his shoulders perched the cape of Piccolo, hovering through the wind. But what scared her the most.

He now had a deep blue color for his hair, exactly the same color that Tsunami normally had...and Sasami always had. On his forehead were two dots...the symbols that had once blessed Tsunami's forehead. Zyroko now had absorbed three persons...Piccolo...Yamcha...and now the goddess, Tsunami.

The new evil wrath looked down upon his first victim, "Over? It's safe to say that, yes."

His lip quivered, and Ryoko found herself hitting the ground hard. A rush of force had come upon her, so hard that not even sound hard been able to reach her before the wave of power did.

*BAAAAMM!!!*

Ryoko's golden hair seemed like it would rip out of her skull, her fingers digging into the rock face like nails through chalkboard. A loud booming sound echoed around her, she nearly gave in to the sheer pitch of the wind rushing up her nostrils.

Holding her arm over her face, preventing rocks and pebbles from flying upwards at her. She looked up, at Zyroko..

His face was twisted in an expression of insane laughter, his eyes bulging as his voice shook the canyons and valleys about them.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHA....."

Around Zyroko, a now grey ki aura flowed and burned around him. The new Jurain symbol on his forehead glowed, bringing forth more surprises.

One by one, the ten Lighthawk Wings Tsunami had commanded appeared around Zyroko. The silent, glowing, sentinel guards surrounded him, his body giving off such a terrifying evil aura...that even Ryoko could not help but cry in fear.

Her fist tightened, and she tried to stand up, "Oh...it can't be over yet. Not until either you...or me...are cold and stiff in death..."

Her legs strained against the wind, barely supporting her...

Zyroko's voice came in from the laughter...

"HAHAHA...strain all you want little girl...HAHAHAHA....Strain ALL you want!!! HAHAAHA..."

**********

NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z AND TENCHI MUYO! :

"Hey, this is Goku! Don't you worry! Soon we'll be out of this jam in no time...I'm talking about Vegeta and I finally getting a chance to fight! Next time on DBZ and Tenchi Muyo Vegeta and I recover at last, geared up for the fight. But Ryoko's in a ditch, and there's no way we can even think of saving her before recovering. But someone else can. Will Tenchi Masaki finally live up to his grandfather's dreams? Save the day? Bring a final peace to life on the Earth? You'll just have to see by watching the next surprising episode of Dragonball Z and Tenchi Muyo! See you then!"

Chapter 16 - The Lovers Unite

Azaka: She's blond...

Kamidake: And she has blue eyes...

***********

OH MY!!! PHEW!!! That took a LOT longer than I thought! But it seems at last it's over...maybe I can finally get the long-awaited chapter 15 up. I hope no one's disappointed, this was by far the hardest and longest chapter yet. Hopefully this will clear up just enough so that I can churn out 16 and the rest quicker. I put a ton of effort into this one...so I hope you all enjoy it! SSJ Nate, out.

BTW, don't forget to review! The more reviews I get the quicker the next one comes out! I like to see how I need to improve and what I should keep ^_^