Chapter One - It Begins
Earth: July 24th, 248 B.C.
Lightning flashed bathing the battle field in a surreal glow for a moment before fading away. Tejina pulled her cloak tight about her as she watched the raging battle. Her own warriors, her Reiketsukan army, was doing battle against a ragtag army assembled by the world's Champion, Olibu. Suddenly a brilliant white light flooded the battlefield and she looked up to find Olibu's daughter, Athena.
She was powerful, not as strong as her father, but still very powerful. She had taken up her father's place as head of the army for the last week, after his defeat at the Sorceress' hands. Tejina opened her cloak and raised her staff summoning her Reiketsukan warriors to leave the cannon fodder be and attack Athena. Instantly hundreds of forms launched skyward and began attacking her.
But they didn't stand a chance. In a matter of moments she'd cut through them and was moving towards Tejina. Athena knew that her father would be back any moment and this knowledge filled her with even more courrage than usual. She knew that after the training he'd said he was to receive the two of them could take Tejina together. But she intended to aid matters further by wearing the Sorceress down, even if only a little, before her father arrived. Unfortunately for her, Tejina was tired of playing war...
The Sorceress thrust her staff toward Athena and shot off a wave of red Ki at the nearing warrior. Athena dodged to the side but before she could react again Tejina was there and slamming her fist into her face. The battlefield went silent at the sound of the loud crack from the blow. And then Athena plummeted toward the Earth lifeless. Tejina grinned and aimed her staff toward Olibu's forces. She'd defeated the powerful warrior days ago and this army was all he had left. Once they were gone she would be ruler of the Earth.
She jerked her head up as blue light bathed the area and just barely dodged around a Ki blast from Olibu. "What!" she cried as he pulled to a stop, his blue aura pulsing about him. "I beat you once already Olibu! You think you can defeat me now, after only a week has passed since our last battle?"
The powerful Human grinned. "It may have only been a week to you Tejina, but I trained for two years during that time." He cast his gaze down to where his daughter lay, closed his eyes, and bowed lightly. She'd bought him the time he'd needed to finish his training with Kami. Once he'd dealt with Tejina he'd use the Dragonballs that Kami had told him of to revive her.
The battlefield was alight with red and blue as the two beings did battle. Tejina pooled her magic and gave him all she had but it had not been enough. After an hour of gruelling battle that left craters and damage across miles of land, a solid right hook brought her crashing to the muddy ground, her blood mixing into it and turning it red. Panting, Olibu landed at her feet. "Give up, I don't want to have to kill you."
"Then let me live and I'll come back!" she hissed. "And next time I'll defeat you for good, just like your daughter." Olibu closed his eyes and shook his head in sadness. As he did she jammed the tip of her staff into the Earth and whispered. "Ovo tri rao yun zin rao zin givo rav uono!" There was a spark from the base of her staff that shot down through the Earth. Grinning she looked back up at Olibu. "Do it!" she hissed. Olibu held out his arm and with one last Ki blast he incinerated Tejina.
In her palace several miles away, in a room deep underground, the spell she'd cast before her death took hold. The large blood red crystal flashed and an aura of darkness formed about it. As Tejina's revenge was set in motion the sky outside darkened further and then was lit brightly by the massive form of Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. Moments later he departed. Athena lived, the ravaged lands were restored, and those who'd become Reiketsukan's were restored. But all was not as it had been. A darkness had taken root and had begun to feed.
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Earth: December 5th, 478 A.D.
Shin felt himself thrown roughly to the ground and heard a thud beside him, most likely Kibito recieving the same treatmeant. Looking up weakly, his body beaten and broken, he saw the short yellow wizard he'd been following emerge from the shadows cackling happily. "At last the day I've waited so long for has arrived! The energy has been gathered, Majin Buu shall be ressurected! And as his first act he'll obliterate you!"
The Kai groaned as he tried to pull himself to his feet but felt the large foot of Dabura push him back down. That Babidi would be able to enslave the Demon King... he'd never imagined that. He'd not expected such powrful warriors under Babidi's control. Normally Dabura was only mildly stronger than him... but as a Majin his power was greater, too much for the two Kais to defeat. And now Majin Buu would be unleashed on the universe once more.
He watched, unable to stop him, as Babidi plugged the energy collector into Buu's shell and began to feed the power in. It only took a few moments for it to reach capacity. It began to pulse as pink smoke leaked and it began to crack. "No! I... I've failed..." Shin's mind cried as he watched in horror. And then the shell fell apart and the smoke began to clear. As it did Shin thought he saw two shadows inside the smoke.
And then, suddenly, a stream of golden Ki shot out and slammed into Babidi incinerating him. Shin's eyes widened in shock as two forms emerged from the smoke that he'd never expected to see again. "Ken! Dai!" he cried standing as Dabura's foot was missing from his back. The large South Kaioshin, Ken, and the round Elder Kaioshin, Dai, stood before him. Shin turned at an odd sound just in time to see Dabura vanish, Babidi's hold on him gone now that the wizard was dead.
"I... don't understand." Kibito said climbing to his feet. "What happened to Majin Buu?"
"Gone." Ken replied. "He kept getting weaker and weaker starting about 600 years ago. Around 200 years ago he just... vanished. I guess he was sealed up for too long."
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Earth: Feburary 13th, 772 A.D.
A series of soft thump, thump, thumps marked the steady progession of the small creature across the hard stone floor. Stopping at the intersection of the hall he was in and another he looked around. The entire building was falling apart, obviously not been used in an extremely long time. He wouldn't have even found it all if it hadn't been for that rotten cat chasing him into that little crevice.
He looked about him in interest. He could feel... something in this place. He just hoped it was a way to finally get rid of the body he was trapped within. After a moment he chose a direction and continued on his way. After several long minutes he reached a set of doors and peeked into each. The first was a simple room with an old bed, the second had rotting and broken chairs and tables, but the third and final had a large black crystal that seemed to be pulsing with power and energy.
Slowly he crept toward it and peered inside. With a startled 'Ribbit' he leapt back and ducked behind a rock. Peeking around the edge he looked again he saw the two yellow eyes still looking his way. Swallowing he slowly moved closer again. And then he heard a raspy voice inside his head. -You are... not yourself. I can help you. If you will help me. I can give you power, and a new body. One that can talk and fight.-
The frog sat there staring at the eyes in the crystal for a long moment. Slowly he nodded. -Wise choice. I need to know the powers of the strongest in the world, you will be my eyes and ears. And you will seek out others who can help me. Now, brace yourself. This will hurt... a lot.-
Red and black energy began to surround the odd frog that sat upon the floor. Its eyes bulged and it screeched in pain as it began to change and grow. Purple energy began to lace in with the black and red as the frog's power grew and grew, higher and higher, going beyond anything the frog had experienced before. The painful croaking steadily changed into agonized screams.
And then, it was over. The former frog stood. His body was large now, six and half foot tall, muscular, and scaled. No longer did he look like a frog. Small black horns sat upon his forhead, his red eyes were slanted and angular, the frog like face replaced by one more Human in structure, though without a nose. Upon his forhead, between the horns, was a third, verticle, pure black eye.
Flexing his musscles he looked himself over and then laughed. "Captain Ginyu has returned!" he shouted happily, striking a pose. He grinned as he flexed some more. "And I'm more than twice the strength of my old body! This is great!"
-Now, go.- the voice demanded. -Find those with Darkness in their hearts to join me, and find this world's strongest fighters, so I know what stands against me.- Ginyu nodded and left. For the first time in over a thousand years a Reiketsukan walked upon the Earth. The yellow eyes within the crystal moved back and faded from sight. "Soon." their owner thought. "Soon I'll have what I need to be free."
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Earth: Monday, April 5th, 774 A.D.
Gohan rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed. Moving his hand away so he could see he smiled and reached out toussling Goten's hair. "Hey there squirt." he said to the kid sitting at the foot of his bed. Moving the covers he climbed out of bed and started getting dressed.
"Gohan, Mr. Piccolo came by again this morning." Goten said crossing his arms. "He said something to mom about dark energy and training but she chased him off with a rolling pin again. Something's going on and no one's telling me what!" the little Sai-jin pouted.
"It's nothing Goten. Piccolo and Dende have just had a bad feeling the last couple months, that's all." Gohan sighed as he remembered when Piccolo had first mentioned it a month before. Since then Gohan had stepped up his training a little, instead of just using it to keep in shape and active he was actually training to bring his power up again. Something he'd not done since before the Cell Games. Which he'd found had been a bad idea. When he'd started again the previous month his power had been barely more than a quartar of what it had been at the Cell Games. He'd made some good progress since then but was still less than half his old strength. "Piccolo's just been making sure I keep up my training now."
"Is that where you're going today?"
Gohan laughed as he pulled on his shoes. "No, I'm heading off to Hercule High. Remember, I'm starting there today."
"Oh ya! I remember! Hey Gohan, can I come with you? I want to go to school in the city too!"
Gohan shook his head. "Sorry Goten, maybe some other time. Besides, you're better off here with mom anyway. She's more strict but the day is shorter and you can eat whenever you want." That was one thing Gohan was very much not looking forward too. He'd seen how small the school lunches were. He'd told Chi-Chi about that and she said she couldn't do anything about it for today, but she'd have him a late lunch ready for when he got home, and a capsule of food ready for the next day too.
"Oh... okay. Can I train with you today at least? I have to hold back too much against mom."
Gohan nodded. "Sure thing." he said walking out of his room. When he'd found out that his mom was actually training Goten it had been something of a shock to him. But then he put a little thought into it and it made some more sense. Goten looked so much like Goku, and he'd loved fighting. It was just Chi-Chi's way of remembering Goku. Even if she still made Gohan stick to the books as much as she could.
Walking out into the kitchen the two boys found a pile of food stacked up on the table waiting for them. Goten lept from the doorway and into his chair digging in without a word. Gohan was a bit more slow, a bit more casual, but he was soon packing away the food faster than Goten. "You really need to talk to Piccolo." Chi-Chi said sitting her own plate of two pancakes down on the little corner of the table that was left.
Gohan knew what she meant, talk to him about the training. He didn't say anything, just kept eating. He didn't like lying so it was best if he just kept quiet. It didn't take long for him to finish off his food and juice and a glance at the wall clock told him he was running a little late. "Bye Goten, bye mom!" he called as he ran out the door and leapt into the sky. In a burst of blue light he rocketed toward Hercule City.
He'd fly to the city limits and then land so no one would see him and walk the rest of the way. It was only a four mile walk from the city edge to Hercule High. As he flew he felt a power graze his senses off to the west and turned to look. It was fairly strong for a power on Earth but nothing he wouldn't have been able to easily deal with. That is, if he'd sensed it again. As soon as he turned to look it vanished. Gohan shook it off as nothing and continued on his way.
A few moments later he descended and landed just outside the city limits. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he emerged from the woods at the city's edge and walked down the street. He'd flown over Hercule City several times in the passed week in order to memorize the city's layout. He now knew it by heart and could reach the school with his eyes closed.
He was about halfway there when three explosions sounded down the block from where he was. Turning to look he saw three masked men come running out of a bank, guns and bags of money in hand. "I should do something... but someone could recognize me later... OH! No one would recognize me if I trans..." His train of thought was cut off as a girl suddenly dropped from the bank roof smashing her foot into the head of one of the masked men.
She used the impact to spring board back up into the air and backflip toward a second man. Twisting in the air she lashed out a spinning heel kick that slammed into the side of his temple sending him down as well. She then landed on the ground and stood slowly, turning to look at the third and final robber. He was the one with the money, and without a gun. After a second he gulped, dropped the money, turned, and ran.
The girl took off after him and was gaining quickly. Still several feet away she jumped into the air and flipped over his head landing in front of him facing him. Before he could even stop her fist slammed into his face knocking him back and out. The robbers defeated she dusted off her hands as the cops pulled up.
Gohan just stared at her blankly as she spoke with the police officers. After a second he regained his powers of thought and reached out his mind to feel her power. "Oh, wow! She's almost as strong as Master Roshi! No wonder she took those guys out so easily. I wonder who she is?" He shook his head and decided he could figure that out later, he still had to get to school.
The rest of the trip to Hercule High was uneventful and Gohan spent it thinking about the next month. Bulma was going to be having a picnic on the 26th, the anivarsery of Cell's defeat. And of Goku's death. Of course, Dende had suggested they come up to the lookout for it, since it would be rather wet down on Earth. The young Guardian had done the same thing each year, a light rain all day long with only one break. The exact span of time that Goku and Gohan had been fighting against Cell. From the start of the Cell Games to the second that Cell was destroyed.
Gohan sighed and turned his gaze up to the clouds. "That's dad for you though. The rest of the world comes before him. At least Mirai's going to be coming for his yearly visit soon." He was so lost in thought he didn't even see the guy in front of him until he'd bumped into him. Stumbling back a bit he lowered his gaze and looked at the large boy standing in front of Hercule High. "Oh, sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going..." he said scratching the back of his head.
"Apparently not!" the large and muscular teen growled turning. "I think I should teach you some manners shrimp."
There were some giggles from behind the large teen and then a short girl, about a head shorter than Gohan, came out from behind him. Standing next to the other guy made her look like an ant. While the guy wore a pair of jeans and a camo tank-top, the girl was in red leather pants, a very small black top, and had purple hair tied in a long braid and black lipstick. "Show him what he gets for bumping into you Bull." she said giggling.
Bull grinned. "Yeah, sure thing Fellona."
As Bull cracked his knuckles Gohan frowned. "Hey, come on, I said I was sorry. There's no reason to fight."
"Heh, the shrimp's scared to fight me!" Bull laughed as a small crowd gathered. "Well too bad shrimp, you should have thought of that before you ran into me!"
"Oh, great! This is just what I need, a fight on my first day of school! Man, how do I get into these messes? Alright Gohan, make this look believeable. He's big and slow, you're small and fast. He's going to have to look stronger though..." All this ran through his head in only a matter of seconds and then Bull's fist was rocketing toward his face. Gohan slipped to the side dodging it and doing his best to make it look normal.
Bull growled and swung again and Gohan ducked under it. As he went down he shot his leg out and swept Bull's feet out from under him and the guy came down hard onto his back. As Gohan stood back up he looked down at the large teen. "Look, I don't want to fight you."
Growling again Bull climbed back to his feet and Gohan sighed realizing this guy wasn't going to just give up. Bull threw another punch aimed for his head and Gohan ducked under it slipping to Bull's side and then threw his own punch toward his abdomen. The large teen wasn't fast enough and the attack hit its mark at barely even a fraction of Gohan's power. Still, it was enough to hurt a good deal. It wasn't enough to really phase the walking tank of teen though and he turned and backhanded Gohan.
The Sa-jin hadn't been expecting it, he'd thought his punch would have been enough to bring Bull down, and wasn't able to dodge the back of his large fist. There was a loud crack as the blow impacted and Gohan was knocked over into the dirt. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." he thought as his face stung. He'd definately felt worse, but it was annoying none the less. Groaning he climbed back to his feet and rubbed his face, a small bruise forming. "At least I had my power pushed way down, or he'd have broken his hand."
"Seems the shrimp wants more." Fellona said smirking.
"Yeah, sure does!" Bull laughed. "Alright shrimp, time to put your lights out!" Bull threw a punch for Gohan's head again, full power. Once more Gohan slipped to the side but this time he reached up and grabbed his arm and used Bull's own momentum to flip him over and onto his back with a thud. Bull growled and started climbing back to his feet again.
"Alright, that's enough!" another female voice called from near-by. Gohan looked away from Bull to the sound of the voice and found the girl from before standing there. Her arms were crossed and her blue eyes glaring at Bull and Fellona.
Bull smirked as he finished climbing to his feet. "Well, if it isn't the great Videl Satan!" he laughed. "You think you're tough just because you're Hercule's daughter. Well, I got news for you little girl, I'm going to be the one winning the Budokai this year. Not that old fart." He grinned again as he cracked his knuckles once more. "And I think I'll send him a little message to that effect by putting you in the hospital. One last weakling I'll have to deal with at the tournament!"
Bull pulled back his fist again and swung it straight for Videl's head. Gohan was still too shocked over the fact that she was Hercule's daughter to even move. She slipped around his punch and then leapt into the air slamming her knee against his jaw. The blow lifted him up off the ground a few inches before knocking him onto his back yet again.
As Gohan's senses came back to him he walked over to stand beside Videl and followed her example by slipping into a fighting stance, one he'd learned from Piccolo. "I can handle him myself." Videl said glancing over to him.
"I can tell." Gohan replied. And he could. This Bull was less than half her strength. "But this started because of me and I don't let others finish my fights for me."
She raised an eyebrow slightly at that as Bull once more climbed to his feet, but she said nothing, simply tightened her stance. As Bull glared at them Gohan decided using a little more of his strength wouldn't be a problem. If they were used to Videl's displays of strength then taking his up to a notch or two below hers wouldn't suprise them too much. Bull charged them this time, intending to clothes-line the two teens.
They glanced at each other as he came, both grinning slightly seeing that the other had the same thought. They slipped beneath his arms and attacked. Gohan threw a right punch aimed for the other's stomach, and Videl threw a left. The two blows landed at the same time and Bull stopped in his tracks doubling over their fists, his eyes bulging out of his head. A second later he stumbled back holding his stomach as Gohan and Videl straightened up once more.
Fellona moved over to Bull as he dropped to his knees and then collapsed unconcious. "You'll pay for that!" she cried walking toward them now. Suddenly she pulled out a knife from her pocket and started trying to stab Gohan. The Sai-jin dodged around her swings making sure to only just avoid them, his shirt sleeve getting cut once along the way. Suddenly a hand grabbed Fellona's wrist and twisted it causing her to drop the knife and then she was thrown over Videl's shoulder and into a tree which knocked her out.
Videl then turned back to Gohan. "You could have taken her out just easily as me, why didn't you?"
Gohan grinned dumbly and scratched the back of his head. "I'd rather not hit a girl unless I have too, or she's actually able to fight back."
Videl smirked. "He's a strange one." "So, just who are you anyway? I've never seen you around here before, and you're a pretty good fighter. You going to be in the Budokai next month?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I'm Gohan." he said holding out his hand, which Videl then shook. "And I just started here, I've been home schooled up until now. As for the tournament, probably not. I just train for the exercise mostly, I'm not really into fighting that much."