Shift of Hearts, the first Dragon Ball Z / Tenchi Muyo! crossover posted here in about a year.
And the seventh in three years, I forgot to mention that.
By P. Dizzle tha Prime Legend Champion
Disclaimer Stuff: This story is an original concept, I own none of the characters except the Madri Scholar (though his appearance and a slight part of his name were inspired by the Madri Priests from X-men Legends II), no money is being made off of this, I'm tired of putting that on all my stories, etc.
Rating: T, as is everything else I've done, just for safety purposes.
NOTE: I actually have no note on this one. The mood will have just tensed as realizations are made.
Chapter 7: The Gathering Forces.
Immediately, the situation tensed overnight. Needless to say, one way or another, all groups figured out the fact that several former villains have returned to form a dark faction with the intentions of revenge and takeover, and that this faction did away with Krillin and Yamcha with ease. At the end of the day, they knew that it was Cell, Kagato, Garlic Jr., and someone else. Even the Masaki clan became worried, which was surprising because nobody knew Krillin or Yamcha, with the exception of Raditz, who didn't seem to be moved by his death.
At the Son family home, the house at Mount Paoz, Goku's inability to sense Krillin stirred his sons into trying to find him themselves. None of them were even able to get any kind of a link to his central energy, or that of Yamcha, for that matter. In its place, they sensed a slightly building up malicious energy capable of bad things. It was then that they realized the horrible truth: someone, or something, of evil proportions was on this earth, and this evil had killed Krillin and Yamcha.
This was the same horrible truth that the Madri Scholar had gone on to reveal to Vegeta and Trunks after he finally helped Trunks get the matter straight about the Saiyans. Eventually, in both homes the wives found out, and the rest of the night was all a silent, sullen session of remembrance to Krillin and Yamcha accompanied by a few (not very many, just a few) tears. The "few" part came from the fact of the Namekian set of Dragon Balls' ability to revive Yamcha and Krillin as many times as necessary, and from the spontaneous seriousness that overcame Vegeta and Trunks, along with Goku and his sons, about the nature of this dark force. They realized that they had a threat to vanquish, before everyone ended up getting hurt in the same capacity as Krillin and Yamcha. Despite natural worry of the wives, as well as Chi-chi not wanting Gohan to go to war again, even the wives understood the graveness of the situation and readied for the pending battle scenario without any arguments. There was one oblivious party, however: Dr. and Mrs. Briefs. But that was only for a… very brief period of time.
Master Roshi and company saw when Kagato and Garlic Jr. terrorized Eighteen and told her the news, so naturally, they were stunned. Marron was sleeping at the time, but almost five minutes after the fact of Kagato and Garlic Jr.'s forcible entry, she awoke to hear the terrible news from her mother and cried right along with her. The tears subsided by the end of the night, due to the same realizations earlier described as the reason for bountiful wells of waterworks not forming elsewhere. However, the mood in this was somber and serious. The hard hitting realization also sparked some tears out of Puar, Yamcha's good friend and one-time companion.
When Gohan called Videl with the news, her instant reaction was that she was going to go over to the Son family and comfort them. However, she had to stay home and tell Hercule and Majin Buu the news, as well as make sure everything was okay on her end. She also contacted Kiyone and through her informed the Masaki house about the evil and the deaths. This confirmed Sasami's fearful "premonition", as well as completed the cycle of the negative mood coming onto all our heroes. The members eventually decided to conglomerate up at Kami's lookout atop the center of the earth. Piccolo, Dende, Mr. Popo, and the Madri Scholar were there waiting for all of their friends to arrive. Soon, the small mass arrived, little by little.
First, Goku and his family flew in via instant transmission. Then, Bulma came in the Capsule Corp jet car, with Vegeta, Trunks, and even Master Roshi, Eighteen, Marron, and Puar. After them, Videl arrived in her jet copter, with Hercule and Majin Buu behind her. The final arrival was that of the entire Masaki household, including Raditz, with the exception of Nobuyuki, who needed to go to work and took it as a release of his own. They arrived in a Galaxy Police patrol ship.
"Well, looks to me like the gang's all here. Including the Masaki clan," Dende said with a sigh as his voice clearly spoke for itself the words "miserable guardian trying to be cheerful here." That same attitude was reflected in the rest of the group, all for specific reasons which had something to do with either missing the fallen, recognizing the slayers, or both. Even Raditz was having trouble finding what words to say. For the first time in his life, he was actually speechless at a memorial service. Back in the Saiyan military under Frieza, Saiyan soldiers used to die all the time. They never had an impact on him like this. And what's more is, he barely knew who the heck Krillin was, and he didn't even care about him. Finally, with a heavy heart, the Madri Scholar stood in front of Dende, Popo, and Piccolo, and prepared to speak to his friends assembled in the area.
"It's a very unfortunate occasion, this one we're gathered for," began the all-seeing eye of the universe. "When I intertwined our two realms, I figured something good was going to come of it. I completely overlooked the possibility that this was going to happen!"
"What are you talking about, Madri Scholar?" Vegeta immediately demanded.
"Do I really have to tell you anything? By now you should know what's upsetting me," the Madri Scholar countered as Vegeta ground his teeth in reply. "It's become clear to me that Cell, Kagato the Ruins Buster, Nagi, (gasps across the Masaki clan) and Garlic Jr. are all assembled together in an evil force. And Nagi, with transporting assistance from Cell, did away with both Krillin, and Yamcha."
"Who is this Nagi person you're talking about?" Eighteen sharply demanded no later than the Scholar finished. Ryoko then moved from among her closer friends to Eighteen, with all seriousness reflected on her face. As Ryoko approached her, Eighteen stopped, and turned towards Ryoko with confusion reigning on her face.
"Nagi happens to be a bounty hunter that's been hunting me down… for crimes I committed back when Kagato had control of me," Ryoko finally explained as she was right in front of the cyborg. Surprisingly, there were no surprised reactions from anyone, including those that had seen her for the first time. "Apparently, she's dropped her little honor code for some dumb reason. The last time I saw her was when we entered the portal that, thanks to a certain clumsy friend of mine (Mihoshi, who happened to be oblivious to the fact that she was being referred to), came out of Ryo-Ohki and warped the universe until we finally got in and closed it. We were inside Ryo-Ohki, my pet cabbit, in her spaceship form. Nagi has a male counterpart of Ryo-Ohki, named Ken-Ohki, who happens to have fallen in love with mine. They came in together, and split suddenly after we got to the other side of the portal. We ended up crashing in the middle of where Goku and his family live, but I have no idea where Nagi and Ken-Ohki went."
"So that's what happened. The warping of the universe, the hole in HFIL… that was your fault," Raditz guessed about his comrades, having just about figured it out.
"Our? Fault? Excuse me, Raditz, but the Madri Scholar attacked us and made us think it was Nagi because apparently he knew what was gonna happen! And last I recall, that's the only way you were able to get out of there!" Ryoko roared in reply.
"Quiet!" Vegeta instantly ordered in anger, silencing them. "This is ridiculous! I can't believe we're actually talking about how you got to this realm when there's evil on our hands, and what's worse is, it's actually important! We're in this boat in the first place because of the Madri Scholar!"
"Hey, enough! I just made a mistake by not counting on this to happen! That doesn't mean I'm perfectly to blame! If you had the talent and opportunity to start a chain of events which would lead to someone's second chance and more protection for part of the universe, you would have overlooked more than this!" the Madri Scholar thundered at Vegeta, stunning him in the process.
Meanwhile, as this painfully pathetic scene was going on, Marron was starting to well up again. Not only was her daddy taken away, but now friends were fighting because of it? Yugi, out of the corner of her eye, noticed this happening, and immediately teleported herself over to Marron, who was slightly smaller than her. Putting each hand on a shoulder of the heart-wounded child, Yugi smiled at Marron in an attempt to reassure her.
"Don't worry. It's okay. The bad people who did this to your dad will get theirs. But I don't think he would want to see you cry. Besides, if this evil Kagato could be brought back to life, he can be brought back. Right?" Yugi said, reassuring the smaller kid that it was going to be okay. Marron retained the rest of the tears and nodded, but not entirely for Yugi's statement. Being around the Z Fighters, she knows a little bit about a certain few special artifacts called the Dragon Balls, the very means by which her daddy could be brought back to life. Eighteen, who was also right next to her little girl, and Piccolo, with his long-range hearing antennae underneath his head garment, both smiled at Yugi for this.
She's come a very long way from letting her imagination run wild on the world, Sasami thought, also smiling from a distance as she observed her close friend. If I remember right, she used to be the one crying like this, when she was afraid and vengeful.
"I used to train with those two. To hang out with them. To be their friend," Goku said in remembrance of Krillin and Yamcha, bringing the topic back to the ones slain by the vengeful bounty hunter. This small piece to a eulogy awakened something within him. Something that said it was once again time to get ready to fight once and again with everything he's got. And judging from how easily their death came about, this could be the toughest one yet, even with the new allies. "Mark my words, Cell's alliance is not getting away with this!"
"How do you suppose we get them, Kakarot?" Raditz asked his brother as he addressed him by his Saiyan name.
"Don't assume that to be an easy answer," Goku replied in a voice halfway between his usual fighting voice and his whisper.
"Maybe Buu can turn them to candy and eat them?" Majin Buu asked hopefully, referring to his Henka Beam. Vegeta looked at him with the most serious gaze, which told him that it was the wrong idea, even though he didn't get it.
"You really think they're unprepared for that? Next thing you know, in their preparedness, they will discuss taking care of you, and decide that the easiest way is to turn your food blast against you. And last time that happened, everyone else was eaten up as a result, and before that the world below us was liquidated by a Human Extinction Attack!" the Saiyan Prince shouted off and reminded the pink puffball, who didn't completely get it after that.
"So… you think Buu's Henka Beam is bad idea?" Buu inquired once again, somehow not certain of the answer.
"Yes, it's a bad idea!" Vegeta shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Vegeta, relax!" Bulma ordered immediately. "Buu was only trying to help."
"Yeah, well he can try harder," Vegeta retorted, putting a cocky smirk on his face as if he didn't care about the fact. This drove Bulma into a steaming anger.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT!" she roared at him in anger.
"Relax. I know he was trying to help. I was just kidding around," he replied calmly. Everyone watching crashed to the floor in response to the incredulous statement. Vegeta, noticing the crashes, smacked his own forehead and crashed to the floor himself. Everyone picked themselves up pretty quickly after that, following which another member arrived: none other than Kibitoshin, the fused Supreme Kai. He came in front of the Madri Scholar and the "official staff" of the Lookout, so as to face the myriad of others
"For those of you that don't know who I am, and I can already tell who those might be, I am the Supreme Kai. My name is Kibitoshin. I watch over this realm of the universe and help with threats," he said, introducing himself to those that don't know him (namely the Masaki clan). He did not sport any happy smile of any kind on his face, because this was a serious matter.
"I think I have some information that you should hear about the four villains. I'm sure you already know who they are by now," Kibitoshin said, looking back at the Madri Scholar for a few moments of time before he faced forward once more and continued. "As Elder Kai and I watched over through our crystal ball, we ended up seeing Cell attack a strange new planet. It seemed like it had been occupied very much, but we never saw it before. We guessed that it was a byproduct of the fusion of the realms, and a resort planet at that. On that planet, he found a set of Dragon Balls. The only problem was: they were a different kind of Dragon Ball. These balls had the same stars on them, except those stars were black. He used these black-starred Dragon Balls, with their red Dragon, to revive the evil space scientist Kagato."
"What?" Princess Ayeka burst out in disbelief. "How could anyone ever attempt to revive that cretin?"
"We don't know exactly how Cell escaped HFIL, or his own already-occurred death, but the only possible theory I see so far is that he left his halo behind using instant transmission at a precise moment in time," Kibitoshin continued.
"That's it! That's exactly what I did, except a different way! But how did he…" Raditz started to exclaim, stopping himself in his own tracks. Kibitoshin had just said the answer. Instant transmission. The move he borrowed from Kakarot.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Awesome perception, Supreme Kai! And thank you for providing us with such entertainment. It was absolutely… well, pitiful to watch," a voice noted from above them. Down flew the four figures of evil, getting close to entering the throne room. Thunder sounded from the sky, as the planet itself (not its people) began to anticipate this struggle of epic proportions. For the first time, the two forces of the combined realms are standing against one another: good vs. evil. And this time, it would be tougher than anything that any of the heroes have ever faced before.
"Nagi, I never thought you would be cruel so as to kill someone's husband like that!" Ryoko immediately chastised the cloaked bounty hunter.
"That's Nagi? That's the one that killed Krillin?" Eighteen instantly asked Ryoko, who turned to her and gave her a nod.
"Well, I'm sorry you feel so heartbroken, Eighteen. But you realize, you're not the one I've been looking to get back at all this time," Nagi began, taking the hood off of her head and revealing herself. "But believe you me, I stopped caring the minute I felt this pain."
"What? What are you talking about?" Eighteen demanded.
"What justifies you killing someone that had nothing to do with you?" Vegeta instantly backed her up, curious and furious at the same time.
"It's actually very simple, really. When Ryo-Ohki and Ken-Ohki came out from the other side of the portal that warped the universe, the two ships ended up separating and crashing in different places. That much, you know. What you don't know, and probably wouldn't care about considering it's me, is exactly how the ships separated. Ryo-Ohki actually ripped herself from Ken-Ohki while we were coming out, not even fully out of the tunnel, injuring him in the process. Compared to my ship, the way yours could have possibly spun out of control would have looked like nothing if you were to see it," Nagi explained, venom increasing with each syllable. She looked like she was struggling with a past pain now herself. "And when we finally landed in the water, and I got out of Ken-Ohki, and he regained his cabbit form, I saw his bleeding wound, where he was severed because of Ryo-Ohki. And what else I saw was even more disgusting to me: I saw Ken-Ohki's tears."
"Tears?" Ryoko asked, still confused at this point. "I don't see why Ken-Ohki would start getting teary-eyed."
"At first, I thought Ken-Ohki was crying because he was hurt, so I tried to find something to help him heal, but then he just let out a huge howl. I could read its intention from that: it was screaming for Ryo-Ohki," the blue-haired bounty hunter went on, somewhat ignoring Ryoko's question. "Right then, I realized that the injury was extremely painful, but that wasn't the main cause of the tears. My cabbit's heart was broken, and he had no desire to live. Ryo-Ohki ripped herself away from him, and now she's in such a better position than him… all healthy, sitting there on Sasami's shoulder… while my pet is living a near-death experience which it has no will to live!"
"And that gives you permission to kill people? What in the world convinced you to destroy Krillin?" Goku demanded in his harshest tone.
"Why, the realization that if she didn't kill anyone that was Ryoko's ally or that was likely to become Ryoko's ally, then there would be no way to be able to reach her. That's what," Garlic Jr. spoke up, to which Nagi made no reaction.
"You! How did you do it?" Goku asked angrily at the Serpent Prince. He remembered him from only one occasion, and was told of the second, but nonetheless, did not like him at all.
"You are completely hopeless, Kakarot. I thought you would have figured it out by now," Garlic Jr. taunted, causing Goku to tremble in anger. The purposeful use of the name "Kakarot" sparked some anger in both Vegeta and Raditz as well: no one is allowed to use his Saiyan name instead of his Earth name without full Saiyan blood coursing through their veins!
"Let me guess: that dark mist of yours?" Piccolo sneered as Garlic Jr. looked at him, impressed at the fact that he actually caught on.
"You're right. But she already wanted to kill Ryoko with a fervent passion after what happened to Ken-Ohki. That's why we found her, and then we convinced her to finally drink from this," Garlic Jr. explained while holding his vase full of Black Water, "so that she may get rid of those virtuous qualities that have always made Ryoko elusive to her. Now, let me explain why her and why not take away Ayeka for this. First of all, none of us were ever looking for minions. We were looking for allies. Furthermore, Ayeka would not truly want to kill Ryoko, because if Tenchi were to find her out doing something like that just to have a better chance at him, then he would hate her for life, and she would be so remorseful from that. To fully escape that, she would need enough Black Water to completely lose control of herself, making her no more useful than a minion. Meanwhile, Nagi had no pending regrets from killing Ryoko anymore, for the exact same reason as came the personal motivation to. One teaspoon of Black Water would do. Therefore, Nagi was easier to bring to our side, with her full self intact. Obviously, this makes her part of our alliance as a member rather than an underling, and a much more suitable person for the role than Ayeka."
"I think they get it. You can stop now," Cell informed his smallest partner in a seemingly bored tone, before turning to their enemies in light. "Now, let me tell you exactly what we are going to do. We will strike you down spontaneously. Any given time, any given place, any given victim, any given one of us. Therefore, don't expect to have a picnic unless you're hiring picnic guards. Soon, you will all join Krillin and Yamcha on the "heroes killed" list! Our revenge will be accomplished, and once that is so, there will be nothing standing between us and the universe!"
All of our good people had to stand there and endure the crap that was coming out of Cell's mouth.
"Oh, um… one second. Cell, who's the extremely long haired one in the black and brown armor again?" Kagato asked his tall green bio-android partner very loudly, so as to tick off the person he was talking about.
"Raditz, the fool who couldn't spot me coming out of HFIL," Cell boasted with a little snicker afterwards. Secret note: Raditz was not the only person whose name begins with an 'R' that had to struggle with anger at hearing the dark side shoot their mouth off.
"Oh, yes, Raditz. I have a little message for you. We have a certain list of people, a top eight within your midst, that you might want to worry about more than anyone. The list, in no specific order, consists of you, your brother, your eldest nephew, your royal highness, Ryoko, Washu, Tenchi, and Sakuya," Kagato announced. As his cackling laughter echoed through the universe, the eight specific targets all stood with horrified gazes, especially at the mention of Sakuya's name. Sure, she was created by Yugi, from a part of the mutant Jurian, but Yugi did not give her any kind of powers or abilities, and based upon the fact that Yugi had completely severed Sakuya from her in the reincarnation, the idea of that seems impossible! And on top of that, these villains were beginning to get excessively annoying.
"Kagato, I thought you were dead," Ryoko finally spoke up through her teeth. Her clenched fists and grimacing face clearly hinted that she was in pain. "Now I find out you're back… and you're out killing people!"
"Oh, speak of the demon pirate slave. Hello, Ryoko. It's nice to see you after so long," Kagato ignorantly replied in politeness, grinning darkly whilst inwardly remembering how the last wait took so much longer that this was mere reverse flattery.
"Someone should really start telling you and your friends to cram it, you monster. Go back to whatever hellhole you came to life out of," Ryoko quipped, having no qualms about telling this guy exactly how she felt about him.
"Why, Ryoko. You've broken my heart. How could you treat an old friend so callously?" Kagato asked sarcastically, before breaking out into laughs. The others followed right along with the act, including Nagi. Finally, someone began to have enough of this alliance of darkness, and decided to speak up. That someone, happened to be Tenchi Masaki.
"That's it. I've had enough of you guys running around, murdering people, and then bothering us as if we had nothing better to do than to listen to you!"
"Oh?" Garlic Jr. stirred, seeing the anger rising in the Masaki child. "And what better things do you have to do, huh? Can you answer me that, you unprepared boy? From the look of you, you're still as meek, and probably as futile, as anyone here that can fight."
"Three things, Garlic Shrimp," Tenchi instantly cut off Garlic Jr., speaking up and stepping up to the plate when necessary. "One; life doesn't like its results to be expected. Two; it's often said the meek shall inherit the earth. Three; one better thing to do than to listen to you is to destroy you!"
"And you think you could ever pull that off?" Garlic Jr. asked in false curiosity. In his eyes, this mere kid was way in over his head.
"Be a little more careful, Garlic. He can generate a three-wing form of the ultimate defense, the Lighthawk Wings," Kagato remembered to advise the smallest member of this un-Christian coalition.
Tenchi chose to ignore the props, as his regular outfit suddenly changed into his white-colored Jurian battle uniform, and several Jurai warrior markings appeared on his face. Impressing those among the others that never saw this sudden change before, the shift from meek shrine boy to mixed blood soldier proved that he was indeed prepared to face the Dark Prince of the Makyo Star, Garlic Jr.
END OF CHAPTER, PREVIEW OF THE NEXT
-Tenchi: "Okay, who do you think you are?"
-Garlic Jr.: "Since you decided to yell at me, I think I'm the one who's going to take you out. But I challenge you to disagree."
-Tenchi: "Technically, I'm not in the Jurian royal line anymore, but I still have Jurian blood in me, as well as human blood and a serious distaste for people like you!"
-Nagi: "And why are we supposed to even care?"
-Goku: "I should have guessed that kind of answer coming from the killer of Krillin."
-Nagi: "Funny. I should be saying something like that to Ryoko."
-Ryoko: "Me? What the hell's your problem?"
-Kagato: "You'll be surprised to know this, Ryoko, but your mistake to infuriate Nagi had nothing to do with me. Coming up on Shift of Hearts, the first Dragon Ball Z / Tenchi Muyo! crossover posted here in about a year, Young Master Masaki becomes the first in a long line of victims of our human/Jurian/Saiyan multi-genocide in Chapter 8: First Encounter, Tenchi Faces Garlic Jr."
-Raditz: "I could have sworn this was my opportunity to battle Cell!"
-Cell: "Oh, you'll get that chance soon enough."
