Summary: After a raid attack leaves many dead, Bulma, a woman good at calming the dead, is called into a village far into the forest. But her task is much harder than she expected and, with the introduction of the tyrant Frieza to the picture, things are really getting out of hand! B/V with some K/18, G/CC and maybe L/T
Rating: PG-13 for violence and Nappa's dirty mouth :P
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. I don't make money from writing this either so don't sue. I do, however, hold claim over this fic and any of my own created characters and situations, so no stealing, either.
By Obsidian Blade
Prologue
Pages: 10
Finally, after what seemed a decade of walking along the skull-lined path that twisted and turned, Chi-Chi found herself in the village square along with the remaining third of the villagers. They were all crowded around a huge pile of corpses, people Chi-Chi knew well who now lay motionless, their eyes rolled back in their heads and maggots spewing from their open jaws. And standing atop that gruesome pedestal, its long, wormlike tail lashing at the air behind it, stood a demon, its malicious gaze flashing from person to person. 'It's evil, it's so evil,' she thought, the tremors that ran through her body intensifying.
"It is time to build into a new era," the demon roared, its fists clenched and raised to the stormy heavens, "And we shall do so on the backs of the fallen!" 'I'm going to faint; please don't let me faint, I don't want to…' "And the next body… shall be yours!" Fangs bared in menacing delight, the creature stabbed its damning finger right at her, right at Chi-Chi herself. And she let out a scream, long and shrill, because it was her fellow villagers that turned around to add her to that pile, her neighbours and her friends…
She let the door slam shut behind her, stepping outside onto the path lined with skulls as she made her way towards the village square. The sky was stormy and oppressive, leering down at her as she shuffled along, doing her best to ignore the heads of the dead. With her grey woollen cloak wrapped up and around her head, Son Chi-Chi was barely recognisable. Her shining black hair and youthful form hiding behind the veiling cloak, she might as well have been an old woman beneath it. A terrified, shaking old woman.
Black eyes snapped open, their whites shining in the silvery moonlight that snaked its way through the window. Son Chi-Chi slowly sat up in bed, her plain cream nightgown sticking to her shivering sweaty flesh.
'It's just a dream. It's just a dream!' she frantically assured herself, brushing one slender hand through her raven coloured hair.
Glancing down at the peaceful face of her sleeping husband, Chi-Chi carefully levered herself out of bed and dropped her pale feet onto the thick boards of the floor. With dull thudding footsteps she made her way over to the dirty paned window and shoved it open, ignoring the squeaky protests of old hinges. A cold breeze swept into the room, raising the woman's long hair from her shoulders and darkening the colour in her cheeks.
"Cold tonight." she muttered to no one in particular, hunching her shoulders a fraction higher.
The moon hung high in the sky to her right, its light glinting like blue steel on the flat faces of the tough leaves of a large expanse of foliage to the left. The breeze sent ripples through the sea of blue and black shapes, making the trees almost seem to sing.
Chi-Chi started to sink into the cradle of her arms on the windowsill, the plant's chorus soothing her ragged breaths. She and her husband, Goku, had chosen this house over the only other available when they came to the village for its positioning on the edge. Although they were not exactly outcasts from the other residents (in fact, they were the opposite - their neighbours could not have asked for better company and companionship), the Son family always had liked the living side of Earth. And it was not like they were alone either. They were right near the others; the only difference was that they had the trees at their back rather than another stout stone building.
Chi-Chi's eyelids were drooped to the point of near closure when she heard the first noise. She blinked blearily an lifted herself up a bit.
'Alright, what was that?' she wondered angrily, staring down at the sea of grass and leaves beneath her.
No change greeted her searching senses, the song of the trees floating up to her like always. Shrugging it off, Chi-Chi started to walk back to the bed when it came again. The leaves still rustled, but not in the normal wave-like way.
Her brows knitting into a frown, she went back to the window.
Her eyes widened.
Below the staring woman orange flames flickered through gaps in the canopy of leaves. They moved forwards, bobbing like deranged fireflies, until a thick leather boot was extended slowly into the light. It was followed slowly by the rest of a beefy looking man and his flickering torch. In his other hand he carried a heavy-looking iron spear, the blade too dirty to even reflect the light of the flames.
His shaved head swivelled around cautiously, bright black eyes glinting amber in the fire's glow as he checked the rest of the village for sentries or security.
"Cummon boys 'n' girls," he growled to the trail of torches that stretched out behind him through the black, "Whatever's theirs will be ours by daybreak."
An excited murmur of agreement passed back through the ranks and hey started to move out further into the open, each revealing more and more wicked-looking weapons to Chi-Chi's terrified eyes.
One of the invaders smirked, "How about this house then, since it's so close."
"Oh kami…" the woman watching above whispered, creeping back from the window, "Goku? Goku get up now!"
"Huh?" a sleepy voice wondered.
"Just get up!" his wife hissed back, "Vegeta was right."
The man was up in an instant, sweeping his thick, wild, black hair out of his face with one well-muscled arm.
"How d'you know?" he asked, his thick eyebrows drawn together in puzzlement.
"Remember how we found those fire circles a few days back and Vegeta wanted us to set up a sentry watch in case they weren't just passing merchants?" sweat was beading up on her face, the skin pale and drawn as she clasped her hands together in fear, "Well, they're attacking us now! They might get our… Oh god, Gohan!"
She made a run for the door, but Goku caught her in his arms.
"Don't worry Chi, I'll stop them from getting anywhere." he promised, "But everyone else in the village doesn't know. They might get…"
"…Their throats cut in their sleep." his wife replied, twisting out of his grip, "I'm not about to stay here while-"
She was cut short by a loud banging on the front door, followed by the smashing of wood as someone forced it down. Giving Chi-Chi one last desperate look, Goku sprinted off in the direction of the noise, grabbing a long, thick staff as he skidded through the bedroom door and out onto the landing. Now that the door was down, the bandits had quieted down some, although he could still make out the muted sound of boot soles on floorboards and glimpse the flickering orange of their torches through gaps in the planks between his feet. As Chi-Chi dashed past him, darting into their young son's room as quietly as she could, Goku shifted the shaft of nyoi bo in his hands. Now or never…
Taking a deep breath, Goku let out a yell and stampeded down the stairs, bringing his weapon smashing down into the head of an unlucky raider before the heavily muscled man had even registered the threat. Muttering out a prayer to Kami for the man as he fell heavily onto his own blade and convulsed his way into death, the defending male leapt over the body and swung hard at another bandit as she ran into the room at the noise of her companion's fall.
"What…" she started, her dark eyes darting from the determined visage of Son Goku as he missed her by an inch to her associate's motionless form.
The scraggy blonde's eyes narrowed and she pointed one long, dirty finger in her opponent's direction.
"Charge him!" she ordered the gaggle of armed men and women who had gathered behind her.
Torches and blades held high, the brown leather-clad thieves did exactly as they were told. In retaliation, Goku did the only thing he could: fight.
Biting his lip, Gohan flattened himself to the wall and crept along, his dark eyes flicking about nervously in search of danger. Peering around the far corner of the cottage, he sucked in a sharp breath as a raider swaggered past only a few feet away, waving his burning torch like a flag. A tear trickling down his cheek as the screaming was suddenly silenced, the boy took his chances and dashed out into the open yet again. And again. And again. Refusing to let himself lag, Gohan's face had transformed itself into a tear-stained mask of determination as he made his weaving way towards the house on the hill. Despite the occasional cock-up, the bandits had somehow managed to keep their colossal raid fairly quiet. If it weren't for the torches and the occasional short-lived scream, not to mention that the squire himself had been the one to predict all this, Gohan might have had a hard time convincing Vegeta that they were being raided at all.
'That's it, I'm nearly there.' Gohan comforted himself as the ground started its sloping assent into a hill.
He was so close; although tired and horrified, he only had three more houses to dash between before he would reach his final goal-
"Hey, somebody stop that kid!" an angry sounding voice cried from nearby.
With a terrified yelp as he realised that, in his final-stretch bliss, he had kept running rather than checking for any enemies, Gohan risked a look back. Scowling back at him was a short bandit, his orange skin and long, white hair set aglow in the light of his torch as he pointed out his target. Another humanoid bandit, made terrifying by its red eyes and the curved cutlass it clutched in one blue, clawed hand, gave a war-whoop and charged up the hill towards the petrified child.
Jerking his head to face the way he was running, Gohan staggered over the broken splinters of a smashed barrel he had just blundered into. In a blind panic, he kicked his feet free of the constricting wood and metal before forcing his screaming muscles to carry him at top speed up the ever-increasing incline.
"Wait up, little kiddie!" a cruel voice guffawed from behind him, trying to entice the young villager to turn around and loose even more valuable time.
Feeling the tears starting to run again, Gohan did his best to blink his vision clear as he ploughed up past the last house separating him from the mansion.
However, the last stretch was the longest; like the Son family, the squire's home had a good one-hundred metres separating it from any other building. Gohan didn't think he could make it, his lungs were burning up in protest so that he could barely breathe and his legs… the muscles felt as though they had been pumped full of his mother's infamous spicy stew. Throat raw and stinging, Gohan stumbled and gasped up the slope with fading hope.
'I can't make it… I just can't… But I have-'
Before he could even finish that thought, the boy let out a blood-curdling scream as he was tackled from behind. With the blue-skinned bandit's weight holding him into the grass, all he could do was scream and wriggle as the grass tickled his throat and a badly-placed rock buried itself deeper into the soft flesh between the bones in his knee.
"Gotchaaa…" his attacker boasted in a sing-song tone, "Now, what would an innocent little child such as yourself be doing running up a big hill like this-" Gohan let out a squeak as he felt cold steel press menacingly against his bared neck, "-in the middle of the night, hmm? Anyone might think that you were running for-"
Gohan buried his face in the dirt and grass as a harsh twang sang out from ahead, accompanied by a sickening thud as a crossbow bolt imbedded itself halfway up the shaft in the raider's forehead. Instantly the man's body went limp, his head lying slack on his shivering captive's shoulder as all his weight went towards crushing the boy flat. Whimpering and shivering in horror, Gohan could not even raise his head as heavy footfalls strode towards him at an alarming pace. Sobbing uncontrollably, he winced as the dead body was lifted off him, nightmarish images of yet another bandit slashing him apart in revenge running through his mind like wildfire. Instead, however, a familiar gruff voice woke him from his stupor as he found himself shaken back into the real world by an enormous hand.
"Get up, NOW." The voice commanded as that same hand contracted on his shoulder and forced Gohan to his feet in a show of amazing strength.
Blinking through his terror, the boy found himself staring at the giant of a man who had just saved him. Standing in at about 6' 8", he was built like a brick outhouse and carried a monster crossbow in one hand. Thrown hastily over one shoulder was a quiver and the fact that he had just been woken up in the middle of the night was reflected in the presence of a loose white nightshirt over his muscular chest and the riding trousers pulled haphazardly over his hips. By his bald head and thick black moustache, Gohan recognised him as Nappa; Vegeta's groundskeeper and personal servant. Nappa was gruff, bad-tempered, foul mouthed and excellent at getting the job done. Although he was not much use as a social companion, he was good at everything else his job entailed and had worked at the manor from long before Gohan was born.
Although it was a well-known fact that Nappa was not a big fan of kids, the huge man managed to produce a mutilated smile in an attempt to ease the Son boy's nerves. To someone who didn't know the guy, the expression probably would have scared them away but Gohan recognised the gesture and offered him the most thankful look he could conjure under the circumstances.
Suddenly the sound of a door slamming was heard from the mansion entrance, causing Gohan to jump three feet into the air.
"You were right, sir." Nappa called without turning around.
A small thatched house belonging to Krillin the blacksmith had just been set alight and the flames sparkled in the servant-cross-bodyguard's eyes as he watched the building quickly turn into a seething inferno.
"From the look of it, they must be near to one hundred strong." He continued as a few vague figures dashed from the burning house, bags of loot on their backs.
The heavyweight man narrowed his eyes as the roof suddenly collapsed in but, to Gohan's relief, a short and definitely bald figure flung himself through the door before his house was destroyed completely.
"One hundred? I doubt it."
Vegeta himself had arrived beside them, his flame of ebony hair seeming almost blood-coloured in the abnormal light. One of the sole surviving members of the Order of the Saiya-jin, the village squire was short but tough with dark olive skin, brooding black eyes and a powerful body. His forehead was usually contorted into a frown or scowl, his snarling disposition only amplified by his striking widow's peak. Wearing his well-worn black boots, a dark blue pair of trousers tucked into the tops, a loose white cotton shirt with the cuffs undone and a pair of dark brown hide gloves that followed every contour of his hands, the only sign of fatigue was the slightly glazed look to his normally eagle-bright obsidian orbs and the way that his sword belt was sagging off one hip, having been buckled up one hole too loose. Stuck in his faded pyjamas, Gohan felt the first pangs of embarrassment at the squire's well-kept appearance.
"But sir-"
"More like fifty, maybe sixty if we're unlucky." Vegeta's head jerked sharply around as his eyes settled on Gohan, whose teeth had started to chatter. "Why're you here, brat?"
The boy jumped at his elder's rough tone and it took him a second to answer as he caught sight of the orange-skinned bandit disappearing between the houses.
"I, uh, came to w-warn you about the attack." He stammered uncomfortably, "My mother sent me…"
Vegeta gave him a strange look, one that the boy could not quite decipher, before drawing his razor-sharp blade. Without warning, he started to stride down towards the destruction.
"I have a new task for you," he informed Gohan over his shoulder, "Ring the warning bell; I want everyone awake who isn't already."
The thought of more dashing between shadows, no longer protected by the two well-trained Saiya-jin warriors, chilled Gohan to the bone.
"B-but, mister Vegeta…" he started, only to be cut off in mid-sentence.
"Nappa, accompany him." The man ordered, adding, "And no buts." when his huge guard opened his mouth in protest, "They'll want to stop the bell."
Leaving the two males to do as they were told, Vegeta continued down the hill, his blade at the ready. The scent of blood and burning was already thick in the air, although not as overwhelming as the fear flooding in from everywhere. As a warrior, he found it easy to pick out the locations of his clumsier bandit opponents, so when a man with his brilliant red hair tied into thousands of tiny braids leapt out to attack it did not surprise the squire in the least. Bringing his sword up into standard attack stance, he did not waste a second in reversing the raider's attack right back at him. In a flash he had torn an angry red slash straight across the other fighter's chest, revelling in the shriek of pain the strike brought out before bringing his weapon down into the collarbone. There was a wet crack and Vegeta shoved the dying man down into the dirt with one foot as he tore his sword free, whirling to parry a strike from behind by a more agile female.
She struck hard and fast, light on her feet as her twin daggers flashed at the squire. To her dismay, however, Vegeta blocked every blow with ease, catching one strike on the pommel of his weapon before smacking away the second with the flat of the steel. With an enraged look on her face, the girl pulled back and aimed to strike again. But she found herself foiled again as sparks flew from the deflected blow. With a simple and well-executed strike as his opponent staggered back, Vegeta slashed open the woman's belly and sped away before the reek of split intestines could register in his mind.
With his normal battle ferocity, Vegeta fought his way deeper into the town. By the time he reached the centre many of the houses, silos and shops were up in flames and the squire's blade was slick with blood. But not as much as it would soon be - the bandits, in a bold move, had piled all of their newly acquired loot in a massive pile of clothing, food, furniture, jewellery, pottery, cutlery and generally anything they could get their hands on. Surrounding the pile stood the raiders themselves, a motley group armed with anything from battered old swords to maces in pristine condition. To his relief, Vegeta saw that none of them were equipped with bows and arrows, although their numbers were almost as high as Nappa had guessed before and still growing. They were congregating on this one point, leaving the houses a wreck as they prepared to slay any challenger. Wrinkling his nose, Vegeta realised that if he were to attack them alone he would be that slain warrior. That was when the nearest raider yelled out and pointed: he had seen the squire. Stepping forwards and snarling at the wary man, the bandits made it obvious that they did not want him there, not alive, at any rate.
"Hurry up, you!" Nappa growled as he paced back and forth beside the ladder leading up to the lone bell.
Too large to fit through the trapdoor at the top, the giant warrior had been forced to make himself content with stomping back and forth and yelling orders. Because Gohan had so far failed to produce much more than a tiny jingle was starting to make him think that his action was not better than nothing.
"I can't do it!" cried Gohan, sounding miserable.
"Well just keep trying!" came the instant and irritable response.
Standing on his tiptoes, the end of the rope pooled around his feet, Gohan pulled with all his might. Although it creaked loudly and bits of rust rained down on the young boy's head, the bell stayed still and useless. With all the stress that had assaulted him already, the urge to give up and cry was strong. Letting his legs give way, Gohan hung by the rope and stared out through a wide hole in the roof. Through it, he could see the moon shining like a great silver beacon just before it was swallowed by a swath of dark grey clouds. Shutting his eyes, the boy was not in the least bit surprised when the first raindrop fell through the hole and splattered on the thick iron of the warning bell.
What started as one drop swiftly escalated to a heavy shower that slammed into the bell and straight through Gohan's pyjamas, soaking him to the skin. Releasing the rope, he spared a glance back to the village, trying to ignore the strings of curses coming from Nappa down below.
"Nappa!" he yelled, trying to take the fighter's attention away from the fact that he was being soaked to the skin, "The rain might put out the fires!"
An angry snarl was what he got in reply, "Shut your trap, boy! The last thing I need is your optimistic bullshit while I'm being fuckin' soaked! Put out the fires, my arse. Hmph."
Blushing at Nappa's language (Chi-Chi had forbidden even the most innocent 'damn' from her household ever since day one), Gohan peeled his eyes away from his home and back to the rope. The hinges were getting wet too, so maybe they might be persuaded to move now? Wrapping his blistering palms around the only way to alert the sleeping villagers to the threat of attack, he pulled and strained.
"Awww, DAMN!" came Nappa's rough voice from below. Not sure what the surly man was swearing about now, Gohan continued to focus his attention on pulling. It was a tiny movement at first, but he was certain that it was starting to give, starting to swing…
Twang.
He stopped dead, the sound of his own heart so loud in his ears he wouldn't be surprised if all the bandits heard it from miles around. That sound… Nappa's crossbow…
Releasing the rope and the results of his hard work, Gohan crept over to the trap door and eased it open, peering down at the man beneath him. Nappa had his bow up and aimed, firing off one bolt before slamming the front of the bow into the ground to grab another arrow and crank it into place. Raising the weapon again, he shot down a raider who was mere feet away, blood spattering onto his face and chest. Glancing up as he went back to the painfully low process of reloading, the bodyguard spotted Gohan with ease.
"Forget me!" he commanded angrily, "RING THAT BELL!"
Actually more afraid of Nappa's wrath than the bandits themselves, the young villager let the trapdoor shut with a snap and crawled back to the rope. Fear, real fear, was fuelling his efforts now as he tugged on the rope and the results were noticeable. The bell began its lazy arch, swinging further and further with each pass by Gohan's straining body. It swung higher, just as Nappa let out a horrific bellow, and Gohan felt the difference as it met its goal.
'Ga-dunk, ga-dunk,' it started pitifully, becoming stronger and stronger with every swing, 'Ka-dunk, ka-chunk, ka-chang, ka-CHANG, ka-CHANG!'
Wanting to laugh with joy at his own success, Gohan found himself limited by the fact that he was on the verge of tears and still ringing the bell. He kept pulling, it kept ringing and, through the gap between each ka-CHANG, the soft twang of Nappa's bow was occasionally heard. Finally, having seen lights brighten up the windows in the east, still safe section of the village, he let go of the rope and let the bell swing itself into silence.
Without thinking, he swung open the trapdoor and swung himself onto the rungs of the ladder, climbing down to the older man… who was laid out on his back, chest spurting blood and a bandit bent over his prone form. The raider, the same man who had ordered the blue-skinned fiend after Gohan earlier, threw his long white hair over his shoulder and glanced up just in time to see the boy's stunned face as he tripped from the ladder.
"Run, brat." Nappa wheezed, the crossbow just out of the reach of his huge hand.
Staring at the raider, Gohan did no such thing. He just felt fury. Nappa wasn't someone he knew well, but he had been protecting him! This guy, this thief…
"Oh, is the little boy frozen with fear? What a shame…" the raider laughed, his hardened leather breastplate creaking as he straightened up entirely, revealing an unnervingly handsome face twisted and corrupted by that leering smile.
Bravely, or perhaps just stupidly, Gohan leapt forwards, snatching the hilt of a knife he saw glinting at him from the top of the bandit's boot. The rain drilling down on his head as he rolled out from under the shelter of the bell tower, Gohan slipped in the mud and found himself on his knees, the blade of the stolen knife flashing up of its own accord just in time to block that of his enemy. He let out the tiniest of wails as the vibration of impact shot up his arm but held true, just managing to fall out of the way of a second attack. Hissing with fury at being avoided twice, the other man slashed out wildly, slicing off a tuft of Gohan's jet-black hair as he ducked in fear.
"You can't win by dodging all the time, kid!" Nappa spat out along with a gout of dark red blood, "Attack him!"
Although uncertain as to how to attack, Gohan nodded quickly and leapt forwards, arm and knife outstretched. The bandit seemed pleased with this; stepping forwards and performing a cut so swift Gohan never saw it coming. With a yelp, he found his arm bleeding from wrist to elbow and his weapon arm caught against the bandit's side right side.
"Scared yet?" The guy chortled over Nappa's angry roar, digging his elbow into the tendons in his captive's arm, causing him to drop the ill-gained knife.
Gohan whimpered in pain, his eyes widening even further as he saw Nappa stretch himself forwards, fingertips just brushing the butt of his crossbow.
"Well, you should be. Anyone who's anyone should be afraid of the mighty Jeice."
With a hard kick to the child's stomach, Jeice sent the boy into a spasm of coughs, laughing as Gohan brought up blood. Before the villager could even catch his breath he found himself bodily thrown into a tree, stars spinning behind his eyelids as his stomach heaved. Grabbing whatever stamina he had left, he heaved himself onto all fours and launched himself on the advancing Jeice, sending the man toppling backwards in surprise. Before he could do anything in retaliation, the overconfident bandit found himself pinned to the ground as Gohan scratched at his face and eyes, locked in a sudden frenzy. Letting out a strangled squawk, he gathered legs beneath him and kicked Gohan clear off his chest. Sitting up, he prepared to finish off the little brat when a furious voice sounded from behind him, "Oh no you don't!"
With all the force he could muster in his weakened state, Nappa swung his crossbow like a club, smashing the solid wooden butt straight into Jeice's head. For a second after hitting the mud, Jeice lay dazed, unable to do anything else. But with the painful return of feeling to his head came the realisation that one or the other of his two enemies would kill him if he dawdled any longer. In an amount of pain he could not even imagine, the orange-haired beast staggered to his feet, flipped off Nappa and lurched off into the woods, aware of the bleeding man's grin of success beaming at his back.
He could not keep this up.
As a warrior, Vegeta was damn impressive. He'd spent the majority of his life practising under the tutelage of his father, the head of the Order of the Saiya-jin, and had impressive sword skills to show it but this was just too much. It had gotten to the point at which even those he had already slain were problematic. Tripping over one body, he would find his feet just in time to make a hurried parry that threw him off balance again. It had been by luck and luck alone that he had survived this long and now, as the rain came down in great sheets, the squire could feel his luck running out.
"Vegeta!"
Unable to spare a glance in the direction of the voice, Vegeta had to take his ears' words for the truth about the newcomer's identity: Goku or, as the squire called him, Kakarot. The fact was proven when a flash of solid red wood lashed out and rammed a raider away from the struggling fighter. Rather than asking one of his stupid questions for once, Goku leapt into the fight alongside his ally, who quickly got back into his stride. Together they managed to keep the attackers away, although the majority of the blows were not fatal and neither defender could boast that they were winning. They needed allies but, without the bell to summon the only section of the village that had yet to be attacked, the chances of that happening were low.
That very thought had barely crossed Vegeta's mind when a soft clunking ring started to sound from the edge of town, growing greater and greater by the second.
"Finally," he muttered, batting off a particularly persistent raider with a well-aimed smack of his sword.
"Yeah," panted his companion, swiping back another opponent, "But d'you think they'll get here in time?"
"In time for what, Kakarot?" Vegeta growled and, with that comment, he suddenly let rip with an offensive streak, forcing himself away from his ally.
Realising that the squire's actions were potentially dangerous for the both of them, Goku fought to follow the other man, only to be blocked by a living wall of enemies. They had seen the weakness, he realised, and that was why they were working to stop him from closing it. Strongly suspecting that the likelihood of him breaking through and joining up with Vegeta was low, he focused his strength on defending himself for the while; he might just be able to force his way straight ahead and regroup that way.
He was fighting so hard, nyoi bo a mere blur through the air, that he didn't notice the figure at the top of the pile of loot until a shout of pain went up from nearby and the anonymous figure broke into fits of laughter. Although he could not allow himself to falter for fear of being beheaded by one of the many fighters striking out at him, Goku managed to get a glance of a lavender-skinned man with bulging muscles and twin black horns pointing out of the sides of his head. Like the others, this man was kitted out in dark leather, although a long, flowing black cape also adorned his shoulders. He was armed with a huge axe and was roaring with laughter at the sight of Vegeta, one hand clutching a wound on his right shoulder as he strove to defend himself with violent slashes of his weapon.
"What's the matter Vegeta, lost your touch?" the man guffawed, his body shaking with laughter even as the rain splattered down around him.
It all happened so fast: one second Vegeta was wounded but still managing to hold his own; the next he was hurling himself forwards, blade hefted above his head with both hands, leaving his sides completely vulnerable… The caped man's smile dissolved off his face and he screamed out orders to his underlings, words lost to Goku due to a sudden roll of thunder right overhead. In the flash of lightning that exploded from the sky at the exact same moment, he caught sight of Vegeta as he cleaved the leader's head right through the middle, saw the mace wedged in one of the squire's sides and the axe in the other - payments for leaving his flanks so clearly open - and made out the shapes of the warriors of the east side as they added their forces to the cause.
It was a shame, he decided as a hit to the head sent him tumbling down into darkness, that they could not have arrived a bit sooner.
Started: 19 November, 2003
Finished: 12 August, 2004