Rezo blinked blearily, wondering who the obnoxious person shaking him was. He mumbled something and rolled over to go back to sleep, causing the person shaking him to curse.
"Goddamnit!! WAKE UP YOU RED RAT FINK!" Rezo jerked awake, curious as to why in hell Zelgadis was shaking him awake. Kagato appeared from his sleep roll across the room, snarling in annoyance. Rezo stared up in surprise, wondering what was going on, when a large blast echoed outside, along with a brief, intense flare of yellow light. It took them less than five seconds to reach the front doors of the temple.
"Rezo!" Rezo looked towards Washu, who, dressed in only a pair of baggy pants and top, was running up the temple stairs as she called for him.
"Do you have any confinement spells?" Washu came to a stop, panting for air, right next to him.
"Yes, but - " Another explosion rocked the countryside. Before Rezo could ask why, Washu had grabbed his arm and begun running back towards the house. A loud gust of air passed by, and Rezo knew that Zelgadis had run on ahead of them. The footsteps behind him told him that Kagato and Yosho were following close behind them. Rezo finally gave in, and closed his eyes, letting his other senses guide him. He soon was at the bottom of the steps that led to the temple, well ahead of the others, before he re-opened his eyes.
Utter chaos met Rezo's gaze. Half the house had been destroyed, and the other half was on fire. While Sasami, Firia, Amelia, and Mihoshi were working to put out the fire, Zel, Lina, Gourry, Tenchi, Ryoko, and Aeyka were defending the others from .... Ryoko? There were two Ryoko?
"What the?!?" Kagato shouted as he promptly appeared behind the second Ryoko, who was currently attacking the people on the ground. This one, hovering in the air, looked the most like the Ryoko they knew, except her eyes were red in color, and her hair was much paler. The one standing on the ground with the others, protecting the house, had the regular hair color, but her hair fell in smooth waves down to her waist, and her eyes were pale gray, not yellow.
"Ryoko, please, stop!" The gray-eyed Ryoko on the ground called up to the other one. "You don't want to do this!"
"Oh, and I suppose you would be the one to know?!?" The other Ryoko hissed furiously, firing a blast at the first even as she avoided Kagato. The blast dissipated harmlessly off Aeyka's shield.
"Yes I am! I am you, as you are I, Ryoko!" The gray-eyed one jumped up on the roof, simply standing there, not threatening. "We are not whole this way, separate from each other."
<< Kagato, get down here! >> Kagato jumped slightly, hovering mid-air close to where one of the Ryokos' had been. << W-Washu?!? >> He stammered mentally, unused to this mode of communication due to over seven hundred years of no usage.
Washu glowered him in frustration. << None other, now get out of their way! I'll explain later! >>
<< You'd better! >> He snapped, re-appearing by her side.
Rezo glared at both of them, motioning for silence with one hand. << Hush, you two. She's going notice this sooner or later! >>
<<!>>
<< REZO?? >>
<< Yes, now be quiet! And stop shouting, Washu. >>
"We were not whole when we were of one body, Ryoko! Or should I say ... Zero!" The one hovering hissed triumphantly when the other winced.
The one on the roof barely avoided the other's blow, coming from behind due to a rapid teleportation. "Zero no longer exists by her own choice! There is only Ryoko!"
"No. You do not accept my rage, my hate, as part of yourself, Zero. You refuse our greatest power!" The one in the air hissed, her red eyes flashing with disgust and scorn. Her face grew cold, unyielding. A blade made from black light, completely different from her regular orange blade, appeared in her right hand.
"You do not accept your true love, Ryoko! Deny it, hide it from others as much as you like, but do not lie to yourself!" Gray eyes shone with hidden pain and regret as she avoided another attack from her other self.
"YOU ASK ME TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUCH A THING EXISTS!?!?" She screamed, her red eyes flashing with utter fury. "After what he has done to us?!?"
"All he has done is ... defeat us. The first time we have ever been defeated. And he has defeated us ... utterly." Complete silence greeted these words.
"He has ... . " A sword of black light appeared in her hand, strange reflections of it gleaming darkly in her red eyes. "And that is why I can never forgive him."
A simple, sad smile grew on her face, her eyes upon the black sword in her hand. "And why he must die tonight."