Dark Side
The plane rumbled and shuddered as they passed through the clouds, but it
was over after a few seconds. They were back in blue sunny skies, that...had
land on them?!
"Bad-day-bad-day-bad-day-bad-day-bad-day!!!" *whap* "Ow!"
"This is the Dark Side of the Earth, Jackie. It's weird-looking at first,
because of the way it looks, but I'm used to it. When I saw only clouds in
the sky of your world, I was uneasy. We're where the clouds are parted.
Where there is no really breathable air, but it's not a vacuum. So we're
fine for now, but take us down, please. We have to go see Dad first, anyway."
The plane moves down towards the clouds and flies over several places.
"Oh, wait! West City! That's fine, we'll land here!"
---------------------------
Vegeta Breifs VIII. Never a more intimidating man to look at. Especially
since his son and Son Tengu joined forces to do evil. They were out looking
for the Dragonballs for some 'Hand-something' group. He grumbled in anger
about his son often, but didn't do anything. So long as he proved his
strength, that would be his pride. Strength was the pride of the Saiya-jin.
Even the Neo Saiya-jin had those desires and thoughts. They were numerous
now, but were only few before. 1200 years had taken a toll of generations,
and the dispersal of the Saiya-jin made most of the humans on the Dark Side
more powerful, even if belligerent and war-like sometimes. He was not the
ruler of them, Son Goten V was, but he thought in ways that were very un-
becoming of the Neo Saiya-jin. He wanted to establish an empowerment on
them all, as well as a way to make them more distinct.
Vegeta VIII had disagreed with that, saying that the Saiya-jin had been
distinct to a large point, having tails and being able to change into a
giant ape that had almost no control over itself. His son disagreed with
that kind of marker also. He wanted to use the old signature of the ones
that were few, but remarkably more powerful. The Ascension. The way that
they turned blond and had aqua eyes. Only Vegeta VIII could do it, as his
blood of the race was more Saiya-jin than human. He wanted his father's
power and form to be the signature of the Neo Saiya-jin.
He had no idea where to begin looking for the Dragonballs. Son Goten's
own firstborn son, Son Tengu, was going to join some scuzzy man who used to
be a big-time crime lord...who also wanted the Dragonballs. Well, wasn't
this convenient? He was going to join forces with someone who knew where
to look, and knew who would try to stop them. Jackie Chan among those who
would dare to stand in the way...but, who was that other guy in the black
trenchcoat?
"Boss. Why do we return to the Dark Side?"
"Because, the locator that was at the dig site with that Dragonball that we
reclaimed shows that there is one near the center of the Earth. If you're
right about this 'lookout', then that's where one of them is! You know,
I'm beginning to wonder exactly where your motives are, Vegeta."
"I...well...I wanted to make our people stronger, and distinguished."
"Oh, so you could take my father's place of ruling us?!"
"Boys! That's enough! You don't want to lose the locator, do you?"
They both bow their heads.
"Sorry, Valmont."
"I thought not. Ah, there it is! The tower leading to the lookout! We are
close now!"
"Father was a fool to share his secret with me and not that nerdy little
goody-wimp, Gohan. I would have never known about this place otherwise.
Still, I can easily talk Dende into giving the Dragonball to us. I've
been buttering him for that moment." Tengu laughs as they sharply turn
upward in flight.
"Well, anyway. That's one more for us."
"I'd be careful about Dende. He might be able to read our intentions, so..."
"Worried, Vegeta? It's just a few wishes to be stronger and richer."
"Yes! So very much stronger and richer! Especially richer!" Valmont says
gleefully.
---------------------------------
Goten walks out of a back room and sits on a straw mat that he bought for
the room. His house looked quite a classic Oriental form, a large pagoda
with a garden. Inside the garden were several different dragon statuaries,
all made of the same stone, and highly articulated. There were 20 in all,
each nearby a garden representation of a planet. It couldn't normally be
guessed, but each planet garden and dragon statue correlated to worlds that
had Dragonballs. Fountains and ponds were also dotted about, in a weird
pattern that looked haphazard. It was, in all actuality, a map of the worlds.
If Goten ever needed to go to a specific dragon, he would do so after checking
the spacemarks and distances from the Earth. He thought it was an ingenious
gift from Dende and Mr. Popo.
"Welcome, Jackie...to the palace of the Eternal Dragons. I am the one who is
their petitioner, Son Goten the Fifth. You came here to speak to me about
something?"
"We...uh...wanted to know about the Guardian. I had a dream, and Shenron
was in it. He wanted me to stop Valmont from getting the Dragonballs."
"...I see. It is not Valmont who hunts them, and I held ritual with Shenron
that night. It is my eldest son who is your enemy. He hunts the Dragonballs
for the most immoral wish of all: immortality." Uncle aiyeahs and faints.
"Why is that bad?"
"The form of immortality that the Dragons grant is a form not unlike thiers.
You cannot die, no matter what happens to you. Even if one iota of you is
left, you will return to life undamaged. You cannot age another day past
the wish, either. The only way to die...is to wish to die, by the same
Dragon that granted you immortality. And I know my son. He does not
want to die, even if it is his soul's lesson, determined by the Kais."
"He will learn someday, that living forever young is not everything." *whap*
"Ow!" Uncle looks at Jackie with his usual grumpy face.
"He will not learn! He is evil! He wants to live forever for his own
selfish reasons! He wants to conquer and rule universe! He wants to play
God! You understand that, Jackieee?!" Jade looks around.
"Whoa...you mean, he absolutely cannot die, like that Buu guy on TV?"
"Erk...yes...like the only enemy that scared us all, and even destroyed
the Earth...I do mean destroyed it. Majin Buu. And the one trait that
we Neo Saiya-jin still have is the ability to become tremendously more
powerful after begin brought to the edge of death. Imagine one of us
with that kind of immortality. That one of us can keep getting fatally
injured until he is virtually invincible to all." Uncle aiyeahs and faints
again.
"Buu really destroyed the Earth?"
"1200 years ago."
"Whoa. Freaky how history never says the planet suddenly exploded in 790-
something AD."
"They never knew."
"Back to the Guardian, please? We've gotten too off-track, sorry."
Goten nods.
"Yes, I agree. The Guardian exists high above Korin Tower, a place far
to the west of here, in lands seldom touched by men. Not so far as to
be in the Void Atmosphere, but it's a high reach. It's there that the
Moon Disk that brings night to the Dark Side is controlled, as is the
winds. It is how this part of the Earth is also like the Earth...I'm
getting off track again, sorry. Anyway, the Guardian lives in a platform
above the tower. It is difficult to reach without flying or this."
Goten holds out a small red stick. "This can extend to any length. It was
said to have crossed the whole Dark Side once. No one but that person who
had done it knows what is on the continents on that side."
"Eh, so...this can reach to the Guardian?"
"Yes." 'Something is wrong. I feel a disturbance of energy at the lookout.'
I must go, and I will show you how it works. Goten walks outside holding
the stick at an angle.
"Uhm..."
"Stand back, you don't want to get hit by it. Power Pole Extend!" The stick
glowed and planted one end into the ground, the other end that Goten was
holding sailed off into the sky with Goten still holding on.
"Aiyeah! Crazyyyyy! Crazy, Uncle tells you!"
----------------------------
Valmont thought that they had struck paydirt. Dende easily gave it to
Tengu, no sensed motives or anything. He did, however, get an eerie feeling
that something was wrong. What were Finn, Ratzo and Chow doing here? Still
working for that freaky floating face? This hunt was going to be crazy.
He checked the scanner. Three Dragonballs! That head must have known the
secret behind them. It must have known where to find them, but...what would
it want them for? He spotted the weirdest looking sunglasses that Chow would
ever wear. Finn and Ratzo had what looked like half of them on, too.
"These Scouter things that that lizard guy gave us are cool! We'll know
exactly where Chan is, and other stuff!" Lizard guy? They had a new boss
again?
'Must be busy flunkies, they.'
"But we're supposed to get all seven of these things, and then-"
Finn puts a hand on Ratzo's shoulder.
"And then HE gets to make himself immortal. Stinks, don't it? I mean, why
does Zenton want them for one wish? And for himself? Why don't we just get
them and tweak his wishes a bit?"
"Duh, how?"
"DUH, Ratzo! We make all four of us immortal! Ha! Wouldn't that be sweet!"
'Immortal? Why would they want to live forever? To be in the annals of
living boobery for all time? Or is it for something else?'
"There are others here, aside of the Dragonball we're after." Hawk Fu looks
around. The little lens blips to life and weird symbols and numbers point
to an otherwise ordinary column. Hawk Fu grins. "TIGER PUMMLES PILLAR!"
With one punch, the column crumbles. "Tiger reveals old boss." Hawk Fu
grabs Valmont by his jacket.
"Oh yes, you're a -tiger- aren't you, Hawk Fu? Now put me down."
"We don't work for you. We have a different leader. A strong leader.
He told us ev-ery-thing. He even told us what you plan to do with the
Dragonballs, and it is a waste...because it will not last forever."
Finn and Chow walk up.
"Yeah! So we were thinking, why not make us last forever, so that we can
make an even bigger crime ring?"
"And you know what that means, don't ya?" Ratzo follows to the small
gathering.
"It means, we become forever! Or something like that." Tengu, Vegeta, Dende
and Mr. Popo all rush in.
"Ah! Is that your leader being attacked?!"
"YOU! Let go of Valmont!" Tengu fires a small ball of energy at Hawk Fu.
He looks up and moves fast enough to counter the same way.
"MIRROR REFLECTS YOUR IMAGE!" Hawk Fu runs up to Tengu and jumps into the
air. "TIGER POUNCES MONKEY!!" He lands a kick on Tengu's chest and sends him
skidding across the ground. Vegeta starts to rapidly punch at Hawk Fu.
"Monkey, huh?! What!!" Hawk Fu blocked almost all of the punches
and began to hit him in the midst of his shock.
"MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO!" He then punched Vegeta in the face, who landed on
top of Tengu, just about to get up.
"Erf...get off, Vegeta." Hawk Fu looks at the two in triumph.
"I win. Too bad." *hit* Hawk Fu faints. A giant green-skinned man with
pink muscles, wearing a large, heavy white cape and purple gi walks up.
"No. I win. Too bad." He looks at the two. "You alright?"
"Er..yeah, Piccolo. Thanks." 'Geez, even after 1200 years, he looks the
same. How?'
"The last wish made with the Dragonballs was by me. I wished for immortality,
because there is so much protection this world needs, and cannot have without
someone strong. I usually stay hidden, so that no one knows I'm still alive."
Piccolo walks back inside the palace on the lookout.
"Wait! Piccolo! What if-"
"If what? I'm needed now? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how much you
trust in Jackie Chan."
"Trust in Chan?! He's our enemy! He wants to stop Valmont!"
"What is worse to you? Someone who wishes to live forever and conquer all,
or someone who just wants money and power? One dies, the other can't."
It dawned on Tengu then. So there were others hunting the Dragonballs, too.
And if Valmont could explain it to Jackie, then...they wouldn't be enemies
anymore. Just as Piccolo disappears, his embarrassment began. His father
just arrived.
--------------------------------
"So...after doing our much-needed cleanup of the lookout, I find that it is
-not- you who seeks immortality. Then again, Shenron did only say HE, not
anyone in particular."
"Why is Shenron appearing in dreams, dad? What does the Dragon want from us?"
Goten folds his arms.
"He wants the Dragonballs to be unused. He believes that if they are used
again, that knowledge of them will return full-front. It is a Neo Saiya-jin
legend, and if it comes to pass that they are used, then millions of people
will hunt for them. We will see the Minus Energy Shenron return again.
That is what the Dragon believes. They must not be used."
"Why not use them where they are not well-known? Like on the Light Side?"
Goten sighs.
"...It is there that some of them resurfaced, so I resign to the fate that
they must exist there from now on. Take them to the Light Side. You have
two, your enemies have three. There are two others out there."
"We will get them all. Then we can make sure that our enemy is thwarted."
*whap* "Ow!"
"You must think it is eaaasy..." *gong!* "First, we don't know where other
two are, second, we don't know how strong is our enemy, thiiiird, we must
eat!" *gong!* *everyone facefalls* Uncle puts his backpack on the floor and
gets out a mung bean sandwich. Tengu and Vegeta hear a rumbling noise from
Jeizu.
"Yeah...eating doesn't sound like a bad idea."
The plane rumbled and shuddered as they passed through the clouds, but it
was over after a few seconds. They were back in blue sunny skies, that...had
land on them?!
"Bad-day-bad-day-bad-day-bad-day-bad-day!!!" *whap* "Ow!"
"This is the Dark Side of the Earth, Jackie. It's weird-looking at first,
because of the way it looks, but I'm used to it. When I saw only clouds in
the sky of your world, I was uneasy. We're where the clouds are parted.
Where there is no really breathable air, but it's not a vacuum. So we're
fine for now, but take us down, please. We have to go see Dad first, anyway."
The plane moves down towards the clouds and flies over several places.
"Oh, wait! West City! That's fine, we'll land here!"
---------------------------
Vegeta Breifs VIII. Never a more intimidating man to look at. Especially
since his son and Son Tengu joined forces to do evil. They were out looking
for the Dragonballs for some 'Hand-something' group. He grumbled in anger
about his son often, but didn't do anything. So long as he proved his
strength, that would be his pride. Strength was the pride of the Saiya-jin.
Even the Neo Saiya-jin had those desires and thoughts. They were numerous
now, but were only few before. 1200 years had taken a toll of generations,
and the dispersal of the Saiya-jin made most of the humans on the Dark Side
more powerful, even if belligerent and war-like sometimes. He was not the
ruler of them, Son Goten V was, but he thought in ways that were very un-
becoming of the Neo Saiya-jin. He wanted to establish an empowerment on
them all, as well as a way to make them more distinct.
Vegeta VIII had disagreed with that, saying that the Saiya-jin had been
distinct to a large point, having tails and being able to change into a
giant ape that had almost no control over itself. His son disagreed with
that kind of marker also. He wanted to use the old signature of the ones
that were few, but remarkably more powerful. The Ascension. The way that
they turned blond and had aqua eyes. Only Vegeta VIII could do it, as his
blood of the race was more Saiya-jin than human. He wanted his father's
power and form to be the signature of the Neo Saiya-jin.
He had no idea where to begin looking for the Dragonballs. Son Goten's
own firstborn son, Son Tengu, was going to join some scuzzy man who used to
be a big-time crime lord...who also wanted the Dragonballs. Well, wasn't
this convenient? He was going to join forces with someone who knew where
to look, and knew who would try to stop them. Jackie Chan among those who
would dare to stand in the way...but, who was that other guy in the black
trenchcoat?
"Boss. Why do we return to the Dark Side?"
"Because, the locator that was at the dig site with that Dragonball that we
reclaimed shows that there is one near the center of the Earth. If you're
right about this 'lookout', then that's where one of them is! You know,
I'm beginning to wonder exactly where your motives are, Vegeta."
"I...well...I wanted to make our people stronger, and distinguished."
"Oh, so you could take my father's place of ruling us?!"
"Boys! That's enough! You don't want to lose the locator, do you?"
They both bow their heads.
"Sorry, Valmont."
"I thought not. Ah, there it is! The tower leading to the lookout! We are
close now!"
"Father was a fool to share his secret with me and not that nerdy little
goody-wimp, Gohan. I would have never known about this place otherwise.
Still, I can easily talk Dende into giving the Dragonball to us. I've
been buttering him for that moment." Tengu laughs as they sharply turn
upward in flight.
"Well, anyway. That's one more for us."
"I'd be careful about Dende. He might be able to read our intentions, so..."
"Worried, Vegeta? It's just a few wishes to be stronger and richer."
"Yes! So very much stronger and richer! Especially richer!" Valmont says
gleefully.
---------------------------------
Goten walks out of a back room and sits on a straw mat that he bought for
the room. His house looked quite a classic Oriental form, a large pagoda
with a garden. Inside the garden were several different dragon statuaries,
all made of the same stone, and highly articulated. There were 20 in all,
each nearby a garden representation of a planet. It couldn't normally be
guessed, but each planet garden and dragon statue correlated to worlds that
had Dragonballs. Fountains and ponds were also dotted about, in a weird
pattern that looked haphazard. It was, in all actuality, a map of the worlds.
If Goten ever needed to go to a specific dragon, he would do so after checking
the spacemarks and distances from the Earth. He thought it was an ingenious
gift from Dende and Mr. Popo.
"Welcome, Jackie...to the palace of the Eternal Dragons. I am the one who is
their petitioner, Son Goten the Fifth. You came here to speak to me about
something?"
"We...uh...wanted to know about the Guardian. I had a dream, and Shenron
was in it. He wanted me to stop Valmont from getting the Dragonballs."
"...I see. It is not Valmont who hunts them, and I held ritual with Shenron
that night. It is my eldest son who is your enemy. He hunts the Dragonballs
for the most immoral wish of all: immortality." Uncle aiyeahs and faints.
"Why is that bad?"
"The form of immortality that the Dragons grant is a form not unlike thiers.
You cannot die, no matter what happens to you. Even if one iota of you is
left, you will return to life undamaged. You cannot age another day past
the wish, either. The only way to die...is to wish to die, by the same
Dragon that granted you immortality. And I know my son. He does not
want to die, even if it is his soul's lesson, determined by the Kais."
"He will learn someday, that living forever young is not everything." *whap*
"Ow!" Uncle looks at Jackie with his usual grumpy face.
"He will not learn! He is evil! He wants to live forever for his own
selfish reasons! He wants to conquer and rule universe! He wants to play
God! You understand that, Jackieee?!" Jade looks around.
"Whoa...you mean, he absolutely cannot die, like that Buu guy on TV?"
"Erk...yes...like the only enemy that scared us all, and even destroyed
the Earth...I do mean destroyed it. Majin Buu. And the one trait that
we Neo Saiya-jin still have is the ability to become tremendously more
powerful after begin brought to the edge of death. Imagine one of us
with that kind of immortality. That one of us can keep getting fatally
injured until he is virtually invincible to all." Uncle aiyeahs and faints
again.
"Buu really destroyed the Earth?"
"1200 years ago."
"Whoa. Freaky how history never says the planet suddenly exploded in 790-
something AD."
"They never knew."
"Back to the Guardian, please? We've gotten too off-track, sorry."
Goten nods.
"Yes, I agree. The Guardian exists high above Korin Tower, a place far
to the west of here, in lands seldom touched by men. Not so far as to
be in the Void Atmosphere, but it's a high reach. It's there that the
Moon Disk that brings night to the Dark Side is controlled, as is the
winds. It is how this part of the Earth is also like the Earth...I'm
getting off track again, sorry. Anyway, the Guardian lives in a platform
above the tower. It is difficult to reach without flying or this."
Goten holds out a small red stick. "This can extend to any length. It was
said to have crossed the whole Dark Side once. No one but that person who
had done it knows what is on the continents on that side."
"Eh, so...this can reach to the Guardian?"
"Yes." 'Something is wrong. I feel a disturbance of energy at the lookout.'
I must go, and I will show you how it works. Goten walks outside holding
the stick at an angle.
"Uhm..."
"Stand back, you don't want to get hit by it. Power Pole Extend!" The stick
glowed and planted one end into the ground, the other end that Goten was
holding sailed off into the sky with Goten still holding on.
"Aiyeah! Crazyyyyy! Crazy, Uncle tells you!"
----------------------------
Valmont thought that they had struck paydirt. Dende easily gave it to
Tengu, no sensed motives or anything. He did, however, get an eerie feeling
that something was wrong. What were Finn, Ratzo and Chow doing here? Still
working for that freaky floating face? This hunt was going to be crazy.
He checked the scanner. Three Dragonballs! That head must have known the
secret behind them. It must have known where to find them, but...what would
it want them for? He spotted the weirdest looking sunglasses that Chow would
ever wear. Finn and Ratzo had what looked like half of them on, too.
"These Scouter things that that lizard guy gave us are cool! We'll know
exactly where Chan is, and other stuff!" Lizard guy? They had a new boss
again?
'Must be busy flunkies, they.'
"But we're supposed to get all seven of these things, and then-"
Finn puts a hand on Ratzo's shoulder.
"And then HE gets to make himself immortal. Stinks, don't it? I mean, why
does Zenton want them for one wish? And for himself? Why don't we just get
them and tweak his wishes a bit?"
"Duh, how?"
"DUH, Ratzo! We make all four of us immortal! Ha! Wouldn't that be sweet!"
'Immortal? Why would they want to live forever? To be in the annals of
living boobery for all time? Or is it for something else?'
"There are others here, aside of the Dragonball we're after." Hawk Fu looks
around. The little lens blips to life and weird symbols and numbers point
to an otherwise ordinary column. Hawk Fu grins. "TIGER PUMMLES PILLAR!"
With one punch, the column crumbles. "Tiger reveals old boss." Hawk Fu
grabs Valmont by his jacket.
"Oh yes, you're a -tiger- aren't you, Hawk Fu? Now put me down."
"We don't work for you. We have a different leader. A strong leader.
He told us ev-ery-thing. He even told us what you plan to do with the
Dragonballs, and it is a waste...because it will not last forever."
Finn and Chow walk up.
"Yeah! So we were thinking, why not make us last forever, so that we can
make an even bigger crime ring?"
"And you know what that means, don't ya?" Ratzo follows to the small
gathering.
"It means, we become forever! Or something like that." Tengu, Vegeta, Dende
and Mr. Popo all rush in.
"Ah! Is that your leader being attacked?!"
"YOU! Let go of Valmont!" Tengu fires a small ball of energy at Hawk Fu.
He looks up and moves fast enough to counter the same way.
"MIRROR REFLECTS YOUR IMAGE!" Hawk Fu runs up to Tengu and jumps into the
air. "TIGER POUNCES MONKEY!!" He lands a kick on Tengu's chest and sends him
skidding across the ground. Vegeta starts to rapidly punch at Hawk Fu.
"Monkey, huh?! What!!" Hawk Fu blocked almost all of the punches
and began to hit him in the midst of his shock.
"MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO!" He then punched Vegeta in the face, who landed on
top of Tengu, just about to get up.
"Erf...get off, Vegeta." Hawk Fu looks at the two in triumph.
"I win. Too bad." *hit* Hawk Fu faints. A giant green-skinned man with
pink muscles, wearing a large, heavy white cape and purple gi walks up.
"No. I win. Too bad." He looks at the two. "You alright?"
"Er..yeah, Piccolo. Thanks." 'Geez, even after 1200 years, he looks the
same. How?'
"The last wish made with the Dragonballs was by me. I wished for immortality,
because there is so much protection this world needs, and cannot have without
someone strong. I usually stay hidden, so that no one knows I'm still alive."
Piccolo walks back inside the palace on the lookout.
"Wait! Piccolo! What if-"
"If what? I'm needed now? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how much you
trust in Jackie Chan."
"Trust in Chan?! He's our enemy! He wants to stop Valmont!"
"What is worse to you? Someone who wishes to live forever and conquer all,
or someone who just wants money and power? One dies, the other can't."
It dawned on Tengu then. So there were others hunting the Dragonballs, too.
And if Valmont could explain it to Jackie, then...they wouldn't be enemies
anymore. Just as Piccolo disappears, his embarrassment began. His father
just arrived.
--------------------------------
"So...after doing our much-needed cleanup of the lookout, I find that it is
-not- you who seeks immortality. Then again, Shenron did only say HE, not
anyone in particular."
"Why is Shenron appearing in dreams, dad? What does the Dragon want from us?"
Goten folds his arms.
"He wants the Dragonballs to be unused. He believes that if they are used
again, that knowledge of them will return full-front. It is a Neo Saiya-jin
legend, and if it comes to pass that they are used, then millions of people
will hunt for them. We will see the Minus Energy Shenron return again.
That is what the Dragon believes. They must not be used."
"Why not use them where they are not well-known? Like on the Light Side?"
Goten sighs.
"...It is there that some of them resurfaced, so I resign to the fate that
they must exist there from now on. Take them to the Light Side. You have
two, your enemies have three. There are two others out there."
"We will get them all. Then we can make sure that our enemy is thwarted."
*whap* "Ow!"
"You must think it is eaaasy..." *gong!* "First, we don't know where other
two are, second, we don't know how strong is our enemy, thiiiird, we must
eat!" *gong!* *everyone facefalls* Uncle puts his backpack on the floor and
gets out a mung bean sandwich. Tengu and Vegeta hear a rumbling noise from
Jeizu.
"Yeah...eating doesn't sound like a bad idea."