Blood Red Moon Part
2: Kidnapped

        This is a crossover fanfic including the characters from Tenchi Muyo,
and CastleVania, more specifically, the newest version out for the N64.  All
characters belong to their respective copyrights, and I take no credit for
them beyond their usage in this story.  Comments, quips, insults, flames, and
death threats can be sent to Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com This is based on
the OVA characters in the Tenchiverse - but don't be surprised if you hear one
or two TV references.
       The original concept came when I noticed that Carrie Fernandez sort of
resembles Ryoko in powers and looks, save that Carrie is only twelve.  This is
my first crossover, so give me a little slack.
         In the last episode, Ryoko went into Washu's lab to find Tenchi, who
had been missing since the night before.  Trapped as they were trying to
escape, they hid in a room.  Tenchi practiced his Mihoshi impression, and
accidentally activated Washu's Dimensional Teleporter, sending him, Ryoko, and
Ryo-Ohki into a new world.
        Once there, they met Carrie Fernandez and Reinhart Schnider, two
adventures who are one a mission to stop Count Dracula from destroying the
world by breaching his castle, Castlevania.  Not knowing what else to do,
Tenchi, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki join them, and the small group enters Castlevania.
Once they cross the drawbridge, though, it rises again, trapping them in the
castle wall.

*****

        Carrie looked at the drawbridge, frowning.  Her spell should have made
it so that it wouldn't be able to rise again.  Reinhart pushed once more on
the inner gate, to no avail.
       "Well, now where to?" asked Ryoko.  Carrie looked at the strange woman
again.  The tail was lashing back and forth.  The thing made her uneasy.  The
man - Tenchi - had said that she wasn't a demoness, but her fangs and that
tail put her on edge.  Plus, she could feel a great amount of energy fairly
dripping off of her, power nearly matching her own command of magic.  Looking
at the other girl, Ryo-Ohki, she smiled.  She at least seemed normal.
       Tenchi was another matter.  She had nearly frozen with shock when she
had seen him appear suddenly with his magical blade.  The sheer power rolling
off the blade alone had made her want to tremble with fright, and she could
sense a far greater power hidden deep inside him, yet she could also feel that
he was in no way evil - quite the opposite, his nature seemed strongly aligned
with good.  And, she admitted to herself, he was fairly handsome.
        "This is the castle wall," said Reinhart.  "It is the first of our
challenges." He pointed to the tower on either side of them.  There was a door
set into the base.  "At the top of both towers, there is a machine that will
open one of the inner gates."  He walked over to the right one, and tried
opening it, but the door was locked tight.
       "Let me try my key," said Ryoko. She raised her hand, and he barely had
the time to leap out of the way when a fireball blasted into the doorway,
shattering it to bits.  Reinhart looked at her, and flashed a quick grin.
       "Carrie and I will go up this tower.  You take the other one, and we'll
meet back here," said Reinhart.  Ryoko looked like she was about to say
something, but Tenchi touched her shoulder lightly, and she looked at him.  He
shook his head very slightly, and then looked at Reinhart and herself, and
nodded in agreement.  Reinhart's gaze fell on her, and Carrie turned, entering
the tower with him.

*****

       As Carrie and Reinhart went into the smashed door, Tenchi turned to
Ryo-Ohki.  "I want you to go in and look around, Ryo-Ohki.  Be careful, and
don't get too far ahead of us.  We don't know what's in there!  We'll be along
shortly." She changed into her cabbit form, and squeezed through the first
gate.  Tenchi turned to Ryoko, who was staring at him in surprise.
      "Why did you send Ryo-Ohki in ahead of us Tenchi?"
      "Think about it Ryoko!  If she trips, than we'd have to explain to them
what she is, and that would likely led to questions about us.  This way, we'll
have an idea of what's ahead." He put a hand on her shoulder.  "She'll be
fine."  Ryoko nodded slowly, and they turned to the tower.  Tenchi tried the
knob, and found that it swung open easily.  He looked at her, and they
entered, Tenchi already holding his sword ready, and Ryoko with a small
fireball waiting in her hand.
       "Creepy around here, isn't it?" said Ryoko. Tenchi looked around.
Cobwebs hung in the corners, and a weird, high-pitched noise came from
somewhere above them.  Looking up, they saw a ramp that curved it's way up
into the darkness.
      "Only way to go is up, I guess."  They walked to the ramp, and began to
work their way up.  Slowly, they reached the half-way point.  Tenchi leaned up
against the wall for a moment, and jumped when there was a loud fluttering.
Several huge bats flew down, and started circling a little.  Pressing his hand
against his chest, he laughed weakly.
        "Just bats," he said, looking down at the ground while he caught his
breath.
        "Tenchi..."
        "What Ryoko?"  Ryoko put her hand on his head, and lifted it up. There
were a lot more bats.  The middle of the tower was black with them.  Tenchi
looked at Ryoko.
       "Let's go, very, very quietly," he said.  She nodded, and they started
to tiptoe their way up the ramp.  The bats milled in the air, the cloud
getting seemingly thicker and thicker by the moment.  Suddenly, a pair
separated from the mass, and flew at them.  Tenchi and Ryoko broke into a dead
run.  With a great screech, the bats started flying at them in groups of three
or four.  Ryoko fired a couple of blasts back at them, knocking down several,
but they were replaced all too quickly.
       Tenchi took a couple of swipes at them with his sword, and knocked down
a few more, but the mass just became too much to fight off.  Ryoko turned
partly to fire off a couple more shots, but there were only a few sparks, and
then the energy died.  Ryoko looked at Tenchi, stunned amazement on her face.
       Just then, the ramp came to a sudden end.  About four feet of space lay
between them, and a door way.  They skidded to a halt, the bats not far
behind.  Tenchi looked at Ryoko, and she turned and tried to fire another
blast. This time, not even a spark appeared.
       "What do we do Tenchi?" she asked, and Tenchi was surprised to hear a
note of true panic in her voice.  Tenchi looked at the space between them and
the doorway.  They looked back at the bats, then at each other, and took a
running leap.  Tenchi made it across to the other side, but Ryoko came just
short, grabbing onto the ledge.  Tenchi grabbed onto her wrists, and pulled
her up.  She looked at him, fear evident in her eyes.
       "I... I almost fell.  I forgot that I can't fly, and I almost fell..."
she said.  Tenchi opened the door, and pulled her through it, whispering
soothing words as he slammed the door shut before the bats flew through.
       "It could happen to anybody, Ryoko," he said.  "Maybe now you'll be a
little more careful."  She looked at him, and, for a wonder, laughed.
        "Me, Tenchi?  Not be careful?  Why, what ever would make you think
that?" He smiled, and they turned, and saw a set of three huge gears, and a
tall lever before them.
        "That must be it," he said, and walked over to it.  With a slow,
protesting squeal, it went forward.  The lock released, the gears began to
spin.  Looking through the window, he saw the gate rise.  Grinning, he turned
back to Ryoko... and saw a tall, bearded man, with his arm locked around
Ryoko's neck.  She was struggling to get away, but to no use.
        "Insolent worm.  So you are the one who has entered my castle.  I
don't know how you have control of one of Hell's Children, but I will soon
remedy that."  Tenchi brought up his sword.
        "Let her go!" he shouted.  The man laughed, and then faded into mist,
taking Ryoko with him.  "Ryoko!!!"
        "Tenchi!!!"  Her cry didn't fade.  It was cut off as if with a knife.
Tenchi made a lunge at the disappearing mist, but was too late to get any hold
on her.  His hand passed through hers, and then even the mist was gone.
        "RYOKO!!!"

*****

        Reinhart snapped his whip as another bat began to fly down at them. It
squealed, and dropped from the air.  Carrie shouted to duck, as she fired a
blast of her magic over his head.  It smashed into one bat, and then two,
three, finally running out of power after the fourth.
       "I think that we should take this battle farther up the way!" said
Reinhart.  Carrie nodded, and they ran up the ramp, occasionally knocking a
bat out of the sky on their way there.  Finally, they reached a doorway.
Killing a last couple of bats that were behind them, Carrie opened the door.
Entering the room, they found three gears.  And, strung through the gears,
were two gigantic wryms.  Reinhart looked at Carrie.
       "Did we come at a bad time?"  The dragonspawn roared, and each looked
toward one of the adventurers.  They leapt in opposite directions as balls of
flame smashed into the ground where they had stood.  Carrie fired a blast of
magic, which smashed into one of the creatures.  It roared in pain, and fired
another blast of flame at her.
       In the meantime, Reinhart was hastily striking the other dragon in the
nose with his whip.  With a lucky shot, he managed to take out one of it's
eyes.  With a bellow of pain, it exploded in flame.  Reinhart looked over to
Carrie, and then leapt backwards as a new blast of flame.  Surprised, he
looked at where the dragon had been, and found that he hadn't destroyed the
wrym, only caused its skin to be destroyed.  The bone dragon stared at him
with an evil red glow.  He dove aside as it roared and a gout of flame erupted
forward.  He flipped his arm, and wrapped his whip around the neck of the
beast.  Its eyes went wide, as he yanked back on the handle of the whip.  The
bones fell to the ground, its skull still seaming to snarl with its razor like
teeth.
       "Don't you know when to quit!" shouted Carrie.  She reached deep within
herself, and tapped her inner reserves of strength.  Raising both of her
hands, a ball of blindingly bright light formed.  She aimed, and it blasted
into the dragon.  With a bright flash, the dragon disappeared.  Reinhart
smirked at her.
        "Remind me to never get you angry at me."  She sniffed, and walked
over and threw the switch.  The gears turned, and the second gate rose. Carrie
walked over to the door, and tried it.  It was locked.
       "Well, how do we get out of here?" she asked.  Reinhart looked around,
and noticed a very large hole in the wall.  Leaning through it, he saw that it
lead to holes which went all the way back down to the ground floor.
       "Drop right down here, I guess."  He went the rest of the way through
the hole.  Carrie stifled a growl, and idly wondered if all older men were as
irritating.  She followed after him.  They dropped down several floors, and
then found themselves where they had left off.
       "Where's Tenchi?" asked Carrie.  Even as she said it, the door to the
other tower swung open, and a broken looking Tenchi walked through.
       "Where are the others?" asked Reinhart, worry evident.  Carrie looked
around.  Ryo-Ohki wasn't there either.
       "Gone.  I sent Ryo-Ohki ahead, while Ryoko and I went up the tower.  We
got there, and opened the gate.  I was looking out one of the windows, and
when I turned, a man... had her...  he disappeared with her."  Reinhart and
Carrie looked at each other.
       "This man... was he tall, with a beard?"  Tenchi looked up, and Carrie
nearly stepped back.  There was an intensity in his eyes that hadn't been
there before.  Young as she was, she understood that look.  The pain of one
who had lost someone close.  She'd worn that look six years before, when her
step-mother had been slain.
       "Dracula.  But it can't be.  He should not awaken for another three
nights."  Tenchi looked at Reinhart.
       "Something that I've learned with legends and myths is that sometimes,
they aren't accurate.  I've not been truthful with you.  Ryoko is a demoness."
Carrie frowned, and Reinhart took a step back, in shock.
       "I knew it," spat Carrie.  "What of you, Tenchi?  Are you a demon in
human's clothing?"  He looked up at her, and she realized that she had said
more than she should have.
       "Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki and I aren't from here.  In fact, we're not even from
this dimension.  I don't know how to explain how we got here, and I'm not even
going to try.  But Ryoko isn't evil.  I know that may be hard to believe, but
you'll just have to trust me."  Carrie opened her mouth, but Reinhart stilled
her with a glance.
       "We believe you, Tenchi," he said, stressing the we, for Carrie's
benefit, she was sure.  "The question now is, how do we save her."  Tenchi
raised his sword, and Carrie felt that power within him... surge was the only
word that she could come up with for it.  It was as if he had uncovered the
strength that she had felt hidden within him.  The sheer amount of energy that
she could feel scared her.  Carrie didn't think that she could have tapped
that much power in her entire life, let alone all at once.
       "Miya!"  Carrie turned as a small, furry creature raced toward them.
Automatically, she charged up a magic sphere, but Tenchi put out his hand.  He
bent down and caught the furball as it bounded at him.  He rubbed its fur,
whispering to it quietly. It miyaed at him quietly, a sad sounding noise.
Carrie looked at Reinhart, confused, but he shrugged, understanding no more
than she.  Tenchi stood back up, the creature now perched on his shoulder.  It
looked like a cat, and a rabbit put together into one.  Big, floppy ears, a
cat's face, and rabbit legs.  In the center of its forehead was what looked to
be a red jewel.
       "I'd like to introduce you to Ryo-Ohki, or, at least, her true form."
Carrie stared, dumb-founded.
       "That is Ryo-Ohki?"  Tenchi smiled a little sadly, and nodded.
       "She told me that she can't hear Ryoko anymore," he said.
       "You understood that?" asked Reinhart.
       "Ryo-Ohki... bonds, I guess, with somebody.  When she does, they can
speak telepathically.  Ryoko is Ryo-Ohki's bond-mate, but, she said that the
connection was severed a few minutes ago."  Reinhart looked at Tenchi, and
picked his words carefully.
       "What might have caused the... link to be severed, Tenchi?"  He looked
away.
       "There are only two things that I can think of, only one that I'll
believe.  She could be in a deep trance, waiting for me... us to find her. The
other..." he trailed off, but to Carrie, it was plain what he was going to
say.  She walked over, and put her hand on his shoulder.  He looked at her,
surprised.
       "Demoness or not, I believe you.  We'd best get going.  If Dracula has
her, then we have to hurry."  Reinhart smiled broadly, and Tenchi's gaze
hardened.  They turned toward the Castle Villa, and went in.

*****

       Here is a preview of the next chapter:

     Carrie gasped, and backed up quickly.  Through the door marched an older
man, a giant white cross strapped to his back, another smaller one hanging on
a chain around his neck, and a third, golden one in his hand.  Tenchi drew his
blade, and Reinhart readied his whip.
     "Stay where you are!  Don't move a finger!" commanded the man.  Crystal
chip blue eyes gazed out at them, cold and merciless.

---
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