Blood Red Moon Resurrection Chapter 11:
     Dances of Light and Shadow

     Disclaimers: All characters belong to their various
copyrights, with the exception of Reinhart Masaki and Rosa Masaki.
Those two are mine.  Beyond their usage in this story, I claim no
ownership, no rights of creation, no nothing.  Please don't sue me.
Comments, quips, insults, and death threats will only be accepted
at Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com
     The Tenchi Muyo Characters in this series are based on the OVA
versions, but don't be surprised if there aren't one or two TV
references.  The characters Carrie Fernandez, Alucard, Death,
Dracula, Maria Renard and Lisa all belong to the Konami Castlevania
series. This cross-over series is placed roughly 17 years in
Tenchi's world, 120 years in Alucard's world after the events in
Blood Red Moon.  Reinhart and Rosa Masaki, the children of Tenchi
and Ryoko, are now young teens.

     "To what profit is it to a man, if he gains the world and
loses his own soul?  Mathew 16:26 I believe." - Dracula, as he dies
at the end of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

*****

     Tenchi slowed as they reached the great doorway that sealed
away Dracula's chambers.  Beside him, the vampire king smiled
darkly, slowly drawing his blade.  The weapon whispered softly,
as it left its sheath, the rasp of metal on hardened leather.
As they had passed through the castle, Tenchi had gained a grudging
respect for him.  As nearly as he could tell, they were perfect
equals in abilities.
     "He waits for us here."  Tenchi nodded.
     "I can't say it's been fun getting up here," he answered.
Tenchi bled from numerous cuts and scratches, as did Dracula.
They had been attacked by nearly every demon, evil creature,
and malign spirit that Tenchi could think of, and then some.  He
shuddered as he remembered the strange, purple dinosaur-like
creature that had attacked as they entered the castle keep.  Even
Dracula had appeared to be shaken by that one.
     "I shall be more than happy to give him a fitting reward for
disturbing my rest," said Dracula.  Tenchi smirked, and together
they through open the doorway.  The room was just as he remembered
it, holding a stiff, simple plainness.  A wide red carpet, with a
thin line of gold on each edge, led up to a raised dais, where a
long coffin rested.  As they entered, a beam of light from the moon
came through the window, and touched the coffin.
     The lid exploded off, flying high into the air to land with
a crash off to the side, and Dracula's former servant sat up,
laughing.  Standing, he looked at them.  Down the center of his
face, a long, thin scar, straight as an arrow, ran.  It continued
past his face, and down his neck, to disappear beneath his shirt,
ending, Tenchi was sure, just above the center point of his
stomach.  Beyond the scar, he looked exactly the same.  Wrinkled
face, evil eyes, well trimmed beard, and dark clothing befitting
a king.
     "Very good!  I would have expected no less from Tenchi and
Vlad!" greeted Barnabas.  Dracula stepped forward, rage dancing
on his face.
     "You would dare to invoke my name, you filth!"  The vampire
laughed.
     "The balance has shifted, 'my lord!'  You are nothing here!
I am the one with the true power now!" he said mockingly,
gesturing.  Out of the shadows stepped the forms of Ryoko and
Death.  Ryoko sneered evilly at Tenchi, while Death spun his scythe
into battle stance.  "I think that they want to play with you!"
Tenchi and Dracula looked at each other; the ancient vampire
smirked, and Tenchi nodded.
     Dashing forward, Dracula lashed out at Ryoko.  She put up her
own blade just in time to block the attack, stunned surprise
on her face.  At the same time, Tenchi flung nearly a dozen
fireballs at Death.  The ancient specter was caught off guard,
and only just managed to deflect the attack.  Tenchi formed his own
blade, and charged in for the kill.
     They had known that Barnabas would likely try to stop them
with something like this, sending the ones that they were closest
to after them, in the hopes that they wouldn't be able to deliver
a killing blow, and thus die.  The obvious solution had been to
fight the other's opponent.  Tenchi knew that he couldn't have
fought even the image of Ryoko, but Death was just another enemy
to him.  The opposite was true for Dracula, unable to fight his
longtime companion Death, but against Ryoko he would have no
compunctions.
     Even as Barnabas realized what they were doing, Tenchi sliced
savagely across, directly through Death's scythe and then his own
body.  The ancient specter howled in rage, and vanished into motes
of air.  A scream of pain from Ryoko almost made him turn, but
Tenchi forced himself not to look.  A moment later, he heard
Dracula laugh triumphantly.  Tenchi looked toward the former
servant, as he laughed.
     "Very good!  I had thought that they would keep you busy
longer than that, but clearly you were expecting them."  Dracula
frowned, and looked at Tenchi.
     "I am beginning to understand one of the reasons that I was
stopped so many times."  Barnabas looked at him, caught off guard
by the strange comment.
     "And why is that, 'Master?'"  Dracula looked at him, and
laughed.
     "Because I talked too much!" he shouted, dashing forward,
his sword aimed to the other vampire's heart.  Catching him by
surprise, Dracula was able to drive it in to the hilt.  He jumped
back, leaving the sword implanted there, and then made an unusual
gesture with his hands toward the hilt.  Four thick bolts of
lightening blasted down through the roof, meeting at the sword.
Barnabas screamed as the energy coursed through him, and Tenchi
had to shield his eyes from the brightness of it.
     When his vision cleared, he was amazed to see that the man was
still standing.  Slowly, he reached up, and withdrew the sword from
his chest.  Laughing madly, he looked at Dracula, who was staring
at him in astonishment.
     "I am the master now, old man!  You are less than nothing!"
With that, he hurled the blade at Dracula.  It caught him in the
stomach; he was thrown across the room, into a marble pillar.
With such force the blade had been thrown, it was driven into the
stone, and there, nearly three feet off the ground, Dracula hung,
impaled by his own blade and held up by it.  He still seemed to be
alive, clutching weakly at the hilt.  Tenchi stared at Barnabas,
frowning.  The vampire smiled evilly, and came forward, a blue
force blade appearing in his hand.
     "Oh, I've waited  long time for this, Tenchi.  My vengeance
will be complete.  I'll let just enough of your spirit live that
you can watch as I drain each one of your precious family dry, and
then rape their rotting corpses.  Their souls will only be the
first.  You should consider them lucky...  Their suffering will
only last a short time.  Yours shall be legendary, even in Hell!"
     With a wordless roar, the vampire leapt forward.  Tenchi
reacted automatically, bringing up his sword to block, and then
counterstrike.  Barnabas easily stepped aside, and Tenchi's attack
went just wide of removing his head.  Following through, Tenchi
spun to block a sideways strike, and then swept a foot under the
vampire.  He leapt over it, but that gave Tenchi an opening.
He pressed it hard with a series of fast, lightly powered strokes,
and was able to push Barnabas back.
     Getting a second wind, Barnabas executed several complex
sword strikes, and succeeded in drawing a long, deep gash down
Tenchi's shoulder.  The vampire laughed, as blood welled up from
the injury.
     "I still remember you giving me the same wound.  Delicious
pain, isn't it?"  Now, all of Tenchi's energies went into simply
holding his ground, but slowly, he was pushed back.  The evil
vampire was able to push a second hit through Tenchi's defenses,
drawing a shallow line across his ribs.  Shocked by the pain,
Tenchi desperately leapt backwards, flinging a line of fireballs
at Barnabas to hold him back.
     As he landed, he slipped in a puddle of blood; whether it was
his or not, he didn't know.  Tenchi fell, losing the concentration
needed to hold his blade as he did.  Barnabas cackled in triumph,
raising his blade high over his head.
     "You are mine!" he shouted, and thrust his blade down.  Tenchi
screamed in pain as he felt it begin to bite into him, sinking
in almost too slow to believe.
     The pain suddenly stopped, and Tenchi blinked as a huge sphere
of dark energy blasted through the vampire, leaving a gaping hole.
The ancient vampire looked down in shock, and stared at the hole.
Then he suddenly laughed, and looked at Tenchi.
     "The destiny of darkness, to destroy itself."  The vampire
fell to his knees, and seemed to melt away, his body losing shape
and form.  What was left dropped to the ground, and seemed to
simply evaporate.  Painfully, Tenchi pulled himself over to the
column that Dracula hung from, and propped himself up against
it, panting.
     "My, wasn't that fun?" gasped the ancient vampire.  Tenchi
laughed raggedly, fingering the wound in his chest.  Another inch
deeper, and Barnabas would have pierced his heart.  Entirely
too close for comfort.
     "Oh, yeah, just a barrel of laughs," he replied.  Dracula
barked out a hoarse laugh, and then began to cough violently.
Groaning, Tenchi forced himself to his feet, and grasped the hilt
of the sword firmly.  Dracula nodded at him as the coughing fit
subsided, and Tenchi pulled the sword out.  The vampire dropped
to the ground, blood pouring from the wound.  Slowly, though,
he pushed himself up, to lean against the pillar.  Tenchi had to
concentrate hard to keep from simply dropping to the ground next
to him instead of sitting down.
     "I haven't felt this bad for centuries.  Given the choice,
I think that I'll skip it on the next opportunity."  Tenchi
laughed.
     "This is nothing compared to getting caught between Ryoko and
Ayeka when they used to fight.  Even you couldn't beat what they
can do."  Dracula smirked.
     "Don't tempt me to try."  Tenchi looked at him.
     "You couldn't even stand up to do it if you wanted to."
     "You're probably right."  Tenchi snickered.
     "Shouldn't be long now.  I'll wake up, and you can go back to
your 'rest.'  You're welcome to it."  Dracula laughed raggedly,
and Tenchi joined him.

*****

     Ryoko was sitting beside Tenchi's bed, reading a novel.  Bram
Stoker's Dracula, to be exact.  She had no idea why she had picked
it up.  She had read it once, a long time ago; afterwards,
she had sworn to never touch it again.  She was frightened
enough as it was.  But, surprisingly, it was having an almost
soothing effect on her raw nerves.  Maybe it was just that she knew
what was happening there hadn't really happened, at least not in
this world.  Other worlds, she knew, where an entirely different
matter.
     At first, she didn't really notice it; a presence that joined
with her mind.  It was too soft to feel more than slightly,
and she was deeply into the book.  A feather touch, nothing more.
Then it came again, a little harder, and she looked up, blinking,
wondering what had disturbed her.  Nothing was in the lab, save
herself and Tenchi; Tsunami had left to stretch out her legs after
holding off the curse.

     She looked at Tenchi; most of the lights in the lab down
fairly low, save for one that she was using to read the book by.
There didn't appear to be any change in him, and she lightly
smoothed a hand over his hair.  His skin was still chilly, but he
was breathing.  It made no sense to her.  How could he be alive,
but feel like he was dead? Ryoko settled back to her book, thinking
that it had just been her imagination.
     When she felt a hand lightly touch her on the arm, she jumped
in surprise.  Slowly, she turned, toward Tenchi's bed, not daring
to believe, and found him, head turned toward her, his beautiful
gentle brown eyes open.  He grinned a little weakly, as she felt
the presence of him suddenly reform in her mind.  They simply
stared at each other for a moment.
     "Any... calls while... I was out?" he croaked.  She looked
at him, and just started laughing.  She jumped out of the chair,
and hugged him tightly; he returned the hug, albeit weakly.  They
separated as Washu came in the room.  The scientist stared in
amazement as they looked over at her.  Blinking away her confusion,
she hurried over, producing some sort of medical scanner.
     "Brain waves normal...  Body temp rising...  circulation
restored...  How do you feel, Tenchi?"  He looked at her.
     "Like I got caught between Ryoko and Ayeka, beyond that, not
too horrible."  Ryoko looked at him flatly, and he grinned
defensively.  Washu, meanwhile, summoned her keyboard, and called
everybody into her lab.  Moments later, Mayuka, Nobuyuki, and
Tsunami all rushed in, laughing in joy.
     Tsunami quickly moved to his side, and lay her hand on his
chest, energy already making it glow.  He frowned, as she closed
her eyes, and seemed to draw in on herself for a moment.  Abruptly,
she laughed, and then kissed him lightly on the cheek.  Ryoko
grinned, and let the 'transgression' pass.
     "Gone.  The curse is completely gone, Tenchi.  Welcome back."
Tenchi looked at her, and frowned again.
     "Are you certain?  That's one trip I'd just as soon not go
through again."  She nodded, as Tenchi slowly pushed himself up on
his elbows, wincing.  He looked around.  "We're a couple short...
Where are Reinhart and Rosa?"  Ryoko blinked, and looked at him.
Tenchi's brown furrowed, as he saw her expression go from joy at
his return to renewed worry.
     "They are in Romania, husband."  He looked at her in surprise,
and Tsunami cleared her throat.
     "It was my doing, Tenchi.  When the curse resurfaced,
I wasn't certain you would survive unless it was eliminated
at the source.  They were the only ones that could go."  He nodded,
slowly.
     "I believe you, Sasami.  But I also need to speak with both
you and Ryoko, alone, for a few moments."  She looked at him,
confused, but Ryoko nodded, and began moving everybody out.
Quickly enough, the lab was empty, and she went back to his side.
He gave her hand a quick squeeze - she noticed that while he was
still chilly, he was warming up - and then began to speak.
     He pained a picture of a terrifying journey, frightening
in and of itself because it had happened, more so because of what
he told them he had been through.  Tsunami gasped when he told them
that he had found Yuzuha within himself, and Ryoko stared at him as
though a viper was in his lap when he told her that he had found
Kagato.  Dracula appearing to save him at the last minute was the
greatest shock to her of all.  As he finished, she shivered,
but Tsunami nodded slowly.
     "I had thought that somebody was aiding me.  This would
explain a great deal."  Tenchi nodded.
     "So, that bastard is in you?" asked Ryoko dangerously.
She wasn't sure if she meant Dracula or Kagato.  Tenchi sighed,
nodding, and trying to smile comfortingly.
     "Kagato is dead for certain.  Dracula killed him before it was
too late; as for the vampire king; when I left him, he was bleeding
from a gaping wound in his stomach.  If he made it, I don't mind
him resting... in me.  I know what he did to you, but he helped
me...  Without him, I wouldn't have woken as myself.  I'll
understand if you can't forgive him, but I have to judge him
against everything that he has done, not just part of it."  Ryoko
frowned at him irritably for a moment, but slowly it softened.
     "Damn...  I will never understand how you always manage to
find some good in everybody," she said.  Sighing, she kissed him,
and smiled.  "Of course, I suppose that I should consider that a
good thing, or you might never have seen the good in me."  Tenchi
smiled gently, and then stretched.
     "Well, there is nothing that we can do but wait for them to
come back."  He winced.  "I am starving.  How long was I out?"
     "A week," laughed Ryoko.  Though she was still worried about
the children.  A good deal of the fear that she had been feeling
had evaporated away.  Grinning, she helped him get up, and they
left the lab.  As they exited, Washu came over, and told them that
Ayeka's ship had just landed.  Tenchi asked what they meant, and
she and Washu began to fill him in on what had happened while he
had been asleep.

*****

     Tokimi smiled faintly, as her armada dropped out of
quasi-space roughly forty-thousand kilometers from the Galaxy
Police Central Head Quarters.  Immediately, swarms of fighter
craft poured from the bays of her destroyers, and sped toward the
huge station.  Though still dwarfed by her own ship, the head
quarters was heavily fortified, and heavily guarded.  Dozens of
huge planetoids and asteroids floated around in the area.  Even as
the first blasts of laser fire began to lance out at the station,
several heavy battle cruisers moved in, and began to attack.
     Smiling wider, she targeted one of the nearest, and fired.
The laser blasted into the ship, and there was a bright flash of
light...  When it disappeared, the battle cruiser was still there.
Her eyes widened, as she saw the fighter fire pass directly though
the station.  Quickly, she punched up a scan of the station.
     The energy readouts were correct; there were massive life
signs and other activity as well, all consistent with a major,
busy station.  Her main weapon had recharged; she targeted the
station, and fired.  The laser blasted out, slammed into the
station... and right through it.  Tokimi screamed in rage, as the
station shimmered, and became Washu's face, sticking her tongue
out at her, and then disappeared.
     Suddenly, she was surrounded by explosions, as Galaxy Police
ships began to pour out of cover from behind the planetoids,
weapons blazing.  Dozens of her starfighters, caught by complete
surprise, were destroyed almost instantly, scattering their ranks.
     Following the first wave of Galaxy Police, heavier
dreadnoughts and space carriers followed, concentrating
their heavier firepower on her destroyers and battle cruisers.
The Shiboo was rocked as lines of the ships were destroyed.
Scanning the fleet, Tokimi was pleasantly surprised to find a
familiar ship.  The leader of the group that had saved the Empress
from being captured.  She smiled mirthlessly, and targeted it with
the main weapon.
     She fired, and laughed as the ship exploded in a brilliant
blast of light.  Her mirth was short-lived, though, as a much
smaller craft streaked away from the explosion.
     Before she could react, her ship was shaken violently,
and klaxons began to sound off.  She silenced them with a thought,
and frowned as a tactile readout came up.  One of the nearby
planetoids had collided with her ship.  There was a fair amount
of damage on the ship's right flank.  The auto-repair quickly
began to take care of the damage, but even her ship's ability
to survive massive hits was a little strained, but she dismissed
it as a simple accident.
     Just as she was about to attack one of the heavy carriers,
her ship shuddered again, and the klaxons buzzed louder.  Now, a
second impact on her right flank had occurred.  She punched up a
map of the area.  No less than seven of the meteoroids and
planetoids in the area were on a direct course with her.  Even as
she watched, an eighth suddenly changed course, and accelerated
towards her.  A third and fourth impact shook the ship, and a new
klaxon sounded.  The ship's auto-repair had been overloaded,
possibly well beyond repair.  Growling, she sent an order to her
shattered forces to fall back to Jurai.
     "You will pay for this, Washu!  You will pay!!!"

*****

     Mihoshi gasped in relief as Yukinojo's fighter module detached
from his main hull just as the mega laser crashed into it.  She
pushed the power up to full, and they flashed away as the hull
exploded in a blinding blast of light.  She almost lost control
as the blast wave washed over her.
     "Mihoshi!  We are being targeted again!" cried the ship's
AI.  She gasped, and whirled the ship into a twisting tailspin.
The ship shook, as several lasers flashed by, just barely grazing
Yukinojo's midsection.  She bit back tears, and turned the ship
toward one of the nearest enemy battleships.
     "Under jurisdiction of Galaxy Police space laws, I have to put
you under arrest for firing on Galaxy Police property..."
she started, beginning to sob as it started to open fire on her.
She wondered why they weren't listening to her, and warned them
that if they didn't stop, she'd have to open fire.  They didn't
stop, and she began fire randomly.  Her first volley destroyed
the weapons banks on the near side, her second blew out the engine.
The destroyer exploded in a brilliant fireball.
     "Mihoshi, it seems as though they are pulling back.  The
mothership appears to have taken major damage from the planetoids
thrown by Washu's machine."  She sniffled, and looked at the AI
module.
     "Really?"  Yukinojo affirmed it and she sniffled again.  They
headed back toward the real HQ, which had been pulled behind a line
of gigantic planetoids.
     "Well, at least they don't seem to be too angry at us for
tricking them!"  Yukinojo sighed in exasperation.
---
The Platinum Dragon
"The rising sun will eventually set,
  a newborn's life will fade.
  From sun to moon, moon to sun,
  Give peaceful rest to the living dead." - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time
http://dragonsanime.dreamhost.com - Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club