A Clear Picture
Chapter One: Descent

By Tachi

Anti-Disclaimer: I own DragonBall.

Author's Notes: This is being put up mostly for the purpose of keeping my account from being incinerated. I deleted my other stories (they stunk and were written a long time ago, so don't bother) and needed something up to keep my account on. I initially wrote the VERY detailed summary to this about a year and a half ago, along with a few bits and pieces of the story. This is going to be a rather long fic, when I get to finishing it. Don't hold your breath waiting for the next chapter, it'll probably be quite a while.

A high pitched scream ripped through the silence. Mirai Vegeta turned his head sharply to see the midget's body come crashing through the wall to the side of him. Kuririn hurtled into a desk, smashing it to splinters with the force of his body. He lay there for a moment, dazed. Just as he was starting to regain his bearings, his eyes widened in shock as a yellow blast careened towards him. He brought up his arms in a futile attempt to block it. But it was too little, too late. The blast tore through him, killing him instantly.

Vegeta scowled, wincing in pain as he tried to rise to his feet in the ruined office building. He staggered for a moment, weak and exhausted. His armor was cracked and bloody, and his body suit was tattered and torn. He brought his hand up to the side of his head, running his fingers through his hair and to the deep gash above his right ear. With a growl of disgust, he clenched his fists at his side and ran over the last few minutes in his mind. He vaguely recalled being thrown through several buildings by the female Jinzoningen, each slowing his descent before finally coming to a rest here. Everything had blacked out, whether for a moment or for an hour he could not tell. He surveyed the hole Kuririn had created and the one he assumed was his own before powering back up to Super Saiya-jin. He paused for a moment, letting the streams of yellow light course around his body, trying to gather his strength back to some semblance of what it had been when the battle had begun. He felt tired, but the boost of strength his fairly recently acquired form gave him was enough to make him willing to jump back into the fray. He did a quick search for kis. All of the Earthlings were still fighting, judging by the fluctuations of their ki nearby. He could no longer sense Yamucha, but the human was no loss to Vegeta; he was not strong enough to give them any advantage against the Jin. The Jin did not have ki and thus all he knew was that they were somewhere in the general vicinity.

"Masenko!" Gohan's high-pitched and panic-stricken voice cut through Vegeta's thoughts. He turned to see the red ki blast fire past the building and, from the strangled cry of pain that followed, it seemed to have struck home.

"Piccolo-san!"

Or perhaps not.

Laughter rang out, clear and loud. The owner of the voice made some comment that Vegeta could not discern, but it clearly angered Kakarotto's son, whom let out a scream of anger and began to battle the Jin.

"Gohan, run away!" Piccolo's hoarse voice called out.

"But Piccolo-san..." Gohan shouted in protest, mixed with the sound of exchanged blows. "If... I go... Ha!... You'll be killed!"

Vegeta chose that moment to show himself; with the Jin distracted, he would stand a better chance. He flew outside and did a quick scan of the area. The city was in ruin. Dust and smoke from various fires mixed with the screams of fear from the few surviving humans that were running in a piteous attempt to escape the paths of destruction the Jin had gone out of their way to create as they fought. Most buildings were utterly demolished and the streets were strewn with the bodies of those that the Jin had been killing when they had arrived. Vegeta spotted Piccolo below, who was in even worse shape than Vegeta himself. Piccolo rose to his feet unsteadily, ignoring the gaping chunk missing from his shoulder and the arm below it that dangled uselessly. Vegeta followed Piccolo's line of sight to see Gohan fighting the male Jin, Juunanagou. Juun was clearly toying with Gohan, lazily blocking Gohan's blows while making sure his own blows did enough damage to hurt, but not enough to kill.

"Vegeta!" Piccolo had spotted Vegeta.

"What is it?" Vegeta demanded in annoyance, ignoring Piccolo as he tried to sense for Tenshinhan and his tiny companion, hoping that they were keeping the other Jin, Juuhachigou, distracted.

Piccolo rose up into the air, stopping a short distance from Vegeta. "I have a plan that might buy us the time we need to escape and regroup. We can't win this way, nothing seems to hurt them. We can gather the Drag—"

"Then flee, cowards." With that, Vegeta flared up his ki and shot up high into the air, scanning the area for Juuhachigou. He froze in midair as he felt Tenshinhan's ki jump to an incredible level of power. Then, just as quickly as it had soared, it fell to nothing. "Kikohou..." Vegeta muttered softly. Damn... This meant that Juuhachigou had nothing left to hold her attention. He tried to sense for Chaozu's ki, but it had also disappeared. All that was left was him, Piccolo, and Gohan.

"Looking for someone?" A voice asked mockingly.

Vegeta spun around just in time to dodge Juuhachigou's fist. He darted upwards, firing a barrage of missile-like blasts down at her. She didn't bother to move, knocking each blast away with her hand. Vegeta increased the power of the blasts as she continued to bat them aside. In one swift movement he stopped blasting and screamed, "Big Bang Attack!"

Juuhachigou's eyes widened in surprise as the massive ball of energy careened down at her. She brought up her arms just as it hit her. A smirk of victory appeared on Vegeta's face as he watched the brilliant explosion of golden energy light up the ruined city. He let out a sigh of relief, letting his arms fall at his side. He had spent months working on that attack and had poured most of his strength into it. There was no possible way that she could have survived it. If she had, she would be mortally wounded and in no condition to fight. He watched in anticipation as the light cleared...

Nothing.

"Wha—?" He did not finish; a double handed fist smashed into his back, sending a jolt of pain across his body. His cry was muffled when Juuhachigou spun around him and brought her knee up into his stomach. He clutched his stomach and glared up into her smiling face, blood running down his mouth. She was uninjured, only her clothing was damaged. He pulled his hand back as he gathered ki into his palm. He stopped suddenly as a two purple blurs sped past him, closely followed by a blue and black one. He turned to see Juunanagou chasing after Piccolo and Gohan, throwing balls of ki at them and laughing like a maniac. Both split up into opposite directions and threw identical, and in Piccolo's case, one-handed, ki blasts back at their pursuer. Vegeta did not see what happened next; Juuh grabbed him by his hair and before he could react, she slammed her fist against his jaw. He felt several teeth loosen and his mouth filled with the warm and salty taste of blood. She tried to hit him again, but he tore himself free from her grasp and darted backwards, coming to a stop about fifty feet away.

Juuhachigou silently unclenched her hand, letting a fistful of blond hair fall slowly to the ground.

Vegeta spat out a mouthful of blood before responding with, "I'll still kill you." The effect of his words was lost when he began to cough violently, more blood streaming down his chin.

Juuhachigou was clearly amused by this. She smiled and slowly approached him. He backed up a bit, his mind vaguely registering the sound of an air car coming to a stop nearby. Without warning, Juuh suddenly disappeared from view. Before it even fully sunk into his mind, his vision blacked out momentarily when a solid blow connected with the back of his head, knocking him forward. She appeared before him, pausing long enough for him to recover and sink his own fist into her face. She merely chuckled and grabbed his wrist, spinning him around and around before throwing him. Carried by his own momentum he slammed into the concrete street below, cracks appearing at the point of impact. He lay there, stunned. He stared up at her floating form through blurred vision, smaller specks higher up and farther away were battling, sending balls of ki back and forth.

Gohan was the only able fighter left on his side.

Somehow, that thought was not encouraging.

"Damn..." Vegeta slowly rose to his feet, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. When he looked up, he saw that she was gone. He braced himself for the inevitable blow that would follow, but it never came. He gave a start when Piccolo's ki went from weak to almost nonexistent. It was still there, but this meant that Piccolo was probably beyond any point of being able to fight. Vegeta flew back up into the sky, searching for both his reluctant allies and his enemies. He spotted them a short distance away, but he could only see Juunanagou and Gohan fighting; Juun still toying with his opponent. Vegeta watched them silently, waiting for a chance to hit Juun when his guard was down. He felt Piccolo's ki rise almost back to normal, directly below him. Vegeta looked down to see Piccolo rise to his feet, a new arm in place. But... if Piccolo was down there, then where was...?

"Ha!" Vegeta ducked Juuhachigou's blast barely in time. It flew over his head and exploded in midair a short distance away. He was about to counterattack when a familiar voice screamed out a warning to his allies.

"Gohan-kun! He's behind you!"

"Bulma?" Vegeta stared downwards to see Bulma gazing off into the distance, he face anxious and worried. She was standing where Piccolo had just been, in her arms was her tail-less brat, Trunks. In that instant that he had turned his attention on her, a searing sensation ripped through his back, filling his senses with agony. He screamed, staring in horror as a beam of energy burst through the right side of his chest. Everything around him became hazy, as though a thick veil had been dropped over his face. He could feel himself falling, dropping out of Super Saiya-jin. He heard Bulma scream, whether about him or about Gohan and Piccolo he did not know. He tried to slow his descent with what little ki he had left, attempting to land without doing more damage. If Bulma had brought senzu, then maybe... He found he could not finish that thought, his mind clouding as he drifted into unconsciousness. By the time he hit the ground, everything had gone black.

Gohan's scream jolted Vegeta back into reality. He opened his eyes to watch the child's body falling to the ground, out cold, with Juunanagou diving after it with a look of cruel glee plastered across his face. Above them, Piccolo was desperately trying to fend off Juuhachigou.

"Taiyoken!" Piccolo's voice accompanied the blinding flash of light that burned at Vegeta's eyes. He heard Juunanagou cursing violently and Juuhachigou muttering something to her brother. Piccolo's outline darted past him, carrying Gohan in his arms. When the light cleared and Vegeta's vision returned, he saw Piccolo return alone, grimly facing the Jinzoningen. They glared at him, standing side by side.

"You hid the child, didn't you?" Juunanagou asked.

Piccolo didn't respond, taking battle stance.

"It doesn't matter where you hid him," Juunanagou continued conversationally, "you didn't have enough time to take him far. We'll find him."

All sound seemed to die away as a new surge of pain overwhelmed Vegeta. He was soaked in his own blood, the sickly sour smell making him feel ill. He tried to rise to his feet, dimly aware of Piccolo fighting the Jin overhead. But he collapsed to his knees, grasping at the hole in his chest. He found it difficult to breathe, each breath created a sucking sensation in his chest. He finally sank forward to the ground, his head throbbing and a familiar numbness overtaking him. As his mind began to slip into oblivion, he heard a dull blow and felt Piccolo's ki drop to nothing. The minutes passed agonizingly slow and just as he began to think that maybe, just maybe, they had forgotten about him, a hand gripped his hair and pulled him to his knees. He opened his eyes to see Juuhachigou's face, behind her stood her brother.

"See? I told you he was still alive," she said, looking over at Juunanagou, who nodded in return.

She let go of Vegeta, who fell to the ground before rising to his feet. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to hold on to his last bits of strength.

"Are you going to fight me, little Prince of Ghosts?" Juuhachigou asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Something snapped within Vegeta. He let out a final cry of rage and desperation as he dove at her, landing blow after blow across her face, pure rage being the only thing keeping him on his feet. She stood still, looking utterly unimpressed by his last ditch effort. Vegeta finally faltered, raw emotion no longer able to keep him going. His arms fell at his side, a strangely resigned expression passing across his bruised face as he stared into the cold eyes of the twin Jinzoningen.

"My turn," Juuhachigou said, her hand grabbing the front of Vegeta's armor as he started the slide to the ground. In one swift movement, she slammed her fist into the side of his face. A sharp crack was heard, and Vegeta became still. She dropped his body to the ground, letting it fall back into the pool of blood below.

"You could have had more fun with him than that," remarked Juunanagou, unimpressed as he and Juuhachigou took to the air.

"Perhaps," she agreed, "but he was already practically dead, so it wouldn't have mattered much."

"Do you want to find where the Nameksei-jin hid that little brat?" Juunanagou asked.

"Nah, we'll meet him again soon enough."

Death was like abruptly waking from a dream, or nightmare, take your pick. This was Vegeta's first thought when he found himself staring into the expectant faces of the rest of his deceased allies. The instant he had died he had found himself standing, in tiptop physical shape, in the back of a crummy line filled with annoying little cloud-like spirits awaiting judgment from Enma-Daiou. Blue-faced ogres called at the spirits to behave and wait patiently, but nobody paid them any heed. Gathered around Vegeta was his fallen comrades. He assumed that they had been awaiting his arrival. They had clearly expected him to die. The bastards.

"Well?" Kuririn demanded, after Vegeta had made a point of ignoring them.

"Well what?" Vegeta sneered, causing Kuririn to back away from him. "I died. Why else do you think I'm here?"

"But what happened?" Kuririn asked, undeterred. "Did you manage to hurt either of them?"

"Hey you guys! Get back in line!" They all looked to the side to see a sour-faced ogre with a megaphone glaring at them.

Vegeta was pleased to see the others grumble a bit as they returned to their previous places in line, not far ahead of him. However, he was annoyed to find that Piccolo did not move. For the first time, Vegeta noticed that Piccolo did not seem as calm and collected as he usually was. If anything, he seemed tense and... worried? Interesting.

"What happened to Gohan?" Piccolo asked, a strange mixture of fear and hope in his voice.

Vegeta stared up into Piccolo's face for a moment, his eyes hard, before replying. "He was being tortured by Juunanagou last I saw him. You didn't hide him well enough."

Vegeta watched with cold detachment as every emotion possible passed on Piccolo's face. Shock, guilt, anguish, fear, rage, and even a hint of suspicion directed at Vegeta. The line moved forward a little bit, and with it Vegeta. More people appeared behind him, all in spirit form. Piccolo remained where he was standing, quietly watching the end of the line for his young student.

The line's progress was tediously slow. An hour seemed to pass with every step. Along with it, a sense of dread began to grow. Vegeta had never been under any illusions as to what his fate would be; he had killed more people in his lifetime than could possibly be counted, something the gods seemed to frown upon. But... he had always thought that he could somehow escape it... prolong it... or even if push came to shove; blast the living daylights out of as many gods as possible before they dragged him down to the fiery pits of despair.

The final option was incredibly appealing at the moment.

He took another few steps, surveying his surroundings with a critical eye. Escape, which seemed possible from all outward appearances, was not an option. He knew that the afterlife had dealt with unruly souls before him, and would long after he had passed through. Much as he tried, he could not picture Freeza and King Kold as having gone quietly to whatever fate awaited them.

"Vegeta!"

Vegeta paused at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. But his confusion did last long, a figure appeared before him, one that he assumed was Kami. In any case, he fit Bulma's description of him: "a shriveled up Piccolo with a staff and robes."

"You need to follow me, I..." Kami began, while Vegeta tuned him out, considering what the consequences would be if he killed only a minor god before his sentencing.

"Vegeta! Are you even listening?" Kami's annoyed voice burst through Vegeta's thoughts.

"No."

Kami sighed, simply placing his hand on Vegeta's arm. Before Vegeta could bat it away, everything around them disappeared in a flash, soon replaced by an oversized waiting room. The only people present were Vegeta's allies, sans Piccolo, sitting on the many ragged blue couches and staring out the windows at the planes passing by.

"Wait here. Enma-sama will judge the lot of you together." With those words, Kami was gone.

Vegeta sat down on one of the chairs, propping his feet up onto a coffee table. His companions were all lost in their own thoughts, none of them showing any interest in discussing what had occurred on Earth. Vegeta had begun to doze when he heard Bulma's voice. He opened his eyes to see the others all staring up at an old TV hanging from the ceiling. Bulma was on, with Trunks in her arms. The TV was following her progress as she climbed through the twisted skeleton of what had once been an office building. Smoke and rubble were strewn in her path, but she climbed over and through her obstacles, calling out their names.

Vegeta closed his eyes again, just as she made the grisly discovery of Yamucha's body. Or rather, what was left of it.

"Vegeta!" Bulma's shrill voice awoke Vegeta a short time later. This time, he watched as she approached his body, her face pale and a long metal pole in her hand, Trunks in the other. Her clothing was filthy and a few splotches of blood stained her jeans. To say his body looked bad was an understatement. Looking at it, Vegeta began to wonder why she was bothering to check the thing, which had several flies buzzing lazily overhead. Bulma stopped a few feet from it, poking it with the pole. Of course, she got no response.

"Well," Bulma said, her voice strangely calm and matter-of-fact as she dropped the pole, "I guess you're in Hell now, Vegeta. But ya'know, I'm even kinda sad that you're dead. C'mon, Trunks, let's go find the others." With those words, she turned away to continue her search.

Vegeta caught Yamucha's gaze out of the corner of his eyes. He turned, locking eyes with the scarred warrior sitting motionless on a nearby couch. To his surprise, Yamucha did not look away, his face as cold as Vegeta's. Yamucha opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when an alarm sounded.

A door opened and a smiling ogre entered. "Enma-sama will see you now. Come with me."

He beckoned for them to follow, disappearing outside. Yamucha did not look at Vegeta as he rose to his feet, the first to exit. Vegeta watched his retreating back with contempt, wondering but not particularly caring what problems the fool had chosen to blame him for. Vegeta exited last, the door closing itself behind him.

"Where's Piccolo?"

All of them stared blankly up at Enma-Daiou's face, Kuririn shrugging his shoulders. Enma let out a low growl, setting his Who's Who book back onto his massive desk. Vegeta stood stiffly before the demon lord, arms folded and face set deeply into a scowl.

"Let go!" Everyone turned to see Piccolo yank his arm out of Kami's grasp, glaring at his counterpart. Kami returned the look.

Piccolo strode past Vegeta, his cape billowing out behind him. When he spoke again, his voice held none of its previous venom. "Where's Gohan?"

"He's safe. At the moment, he's with Bulma Briefs, she found him where you hid him," Enma replied calmly.

Piccolo slowly turned to face Vegeta, his eyes narrowed. Vegeta stared back, raising one brow. In the blink of an eye, a blur of green flashed forward and everyone darted out of the way as Piccolo's fist slammed across Vegeta's face, knocking Vegeta onto one foot. His body slowly tilted back onto both feet, his hands clenching into fists. Piccolo stood before him, lip curled in disgust. Vegeta wiped a bit of blood away from his split lip before diving at Piccolo. A wave of Enma's hand froze Vegeta's movements. He hung there, suspended a foot off the ground like an irritable cat held by the scruff of its neck.

"Now then," Enma continued, allowing Vegeta to fall to the ground. He rose to his feet, his face murderous. "Let's continue with the sentencing." Enma cleared his throat. "Son Goku was here a few minutes ago with a request. You, Vegeta, will not have your soul cleansed, as was your previous sentence. You will spend eternity in Hell, contemplating your wasted life."

Vegeta glared at the demon. "I will not accept favors from Kakarotto."

"Fine then, your soul will be cleansed of all memories, thoughts, knowledge, and morals. You will be reborn as, ah, here we are..." Enma flicked to a tattered page in a massive file (Vegeta didn't need any help to guess whose it was) on his desk. "A cockroach."

Before Vegeta had time to attempt to blast Enma into oblivion, Kami stepped forward. "Son Goku also requested that Vegeta not have any say in the matter."

Enma frowned at Kami, who paled slightly. "Fine then," he repeated, "although I see no reason why he should be allowed such leniency... He'll stay in Hell, with the rest of the trash. You six are going to Heaven. Now go, I have work to do."

Piccolo looked disappointed, as did Tenshinhan. Vegeta shot them a nasty look.

Two ogres entered. One of them lead the others away through a door to the right, excluding Kami who disappeared again. The other ogre, Vegeta was pleased to see, seemed hesitant to go near him. Finally, with a bit of 'encouragement' from Enma, he darted over to the door to the left and opened it. "This way, sir."

Vegeta stalked past the ogre, and began his way down the long, empty hall before him. He heard the doors shut behind him, and the sound of rapid footsteps as the ogre tried to keep up with his fast pace. At the end of the hall was a lone black door that seemed to have a faint ki of its own. As he approached, it swung open and a stale blast of air hit him. He hesitated at the entrance, a sinking feeling suddenly overcoming him as he saw the sickly clouds and needled brown landscape below him.

"Cold feet? Don't worry, that's normal. You'll get over it soon enough," the ogre was now directly behind Vegeta. His placed his hand in the small of Vegeta's back, giving him a light push forward and onto the first of many steps leading downwards. "Enjoy your stay."

When Vegeta turned around, the door was closed. He stared at it for a moment, silent. He finally turned heel and began to descend the stairs that wound downwards, suspended by craggy columns. With each step that he descended into eternity, his only thought was, "Feh, they think I'll be miserable down here... My fate belongs to me..."

TBC...