Fading Souls…

(With Goku)

"OVER A YEAR AGO?" Goku yelled completely shocked. "How long has he been here?"

"Just a year and a half I believe." Piccolo and Goku looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Why, why didn't we sense him earlier? You'd think that, that we would've come across with him at least once while we were preparing for the Androids…" Goku trailed off. He couldn't believe how much they slipped up this time. They were too worried about the Androids that they didn't even notice a menace attacking the Earth!

"In any case…" Destiny began, gaining both Goku's and Piccolo's full attention. "We're gonna need to stall Akuryou until we've found out how to release the children that are still alive in there."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'still alive'?"

"Once he uses up all your energy or powers that you have, your soul withers away until it fades away to nothing."

"WHAT?"

(With Gohan)

"Do, do you have a plan or something Gohan?" Sarah asked, looking up at the smiling teen.

"Well sorta. It's just basic knowledge. If we're inside of someone, there has to be a way to force him to release us." Sarah tilted her head a bit, not understanding what he meant. "Well you see, it doesn't sound very 'sanitary', but as long as we live who cares right?" Sarah nodded, not liking where this was going. Gohan was about to continue before the ground moved suddenly, jerking them forward a bit.

The children all whimpered as they stuck their nails in the ground and yelled out prays. Gohan looked at them weirdly before noticing Sarah's blue face. "What's wrong?"

"He's, he's-" She couldn't even finish as ropes or veins of some kinds came out of nowhere and rapped themselves around Gohan's arms, legs, and waist. He tried to wiggle free, but the grip tightened around him and began to shock him a bit. This shock was no ordinary shock from lightening or anything, this was hurting him internally, he could feel it. This vain rope thing was slowly draining away his soul, but he wasn't the only one. Everyone else was strapped down, screaming in pure agony as they too felt themselves fading a way slightly, including Sarah.

"Wa, what's going on?" Gohan cried out as he refused to scream, but when no reply came, his anger flared. Sure he could withstand this, but all the other children had never had to deal with things like this. 'That, that MONSTER!' Gohan spat to himself, feeling his anger getting the best of him…

(With Akuryou)

"This…this feels so good!" Akuryou chuckled as he felt the power surging through his veins. He never felt this much tremendous energy within him before, but now that he did, he craved for more. 'Oh Gohan…let's see if you have child friends or family like you…' He chuckled before taking off at an amazing speed, too fast for a human to even notice something even passed by.

(With Gohan)

Gohan shivered a bit more in Goku's arms, causing him to tune out in the conversation and try to apply more heat, but that didn't seem to be helping much. Piccolo stared down at the child's face and felt his heart almost break. He wanted to hear Gohan's laughter again, his pure innocent laughter that soothed his soul.

He shook his head as the thoughts drowned out. They needed to keep Gohan alive unless there was no hope in rescuing him. "We need to get him off the Lookout." Everyone turned to Piccolo in question. "Look, the Lookout is miles away from the Earth which means it's colder up here too. We need to get him to a place on the ground where the sun can help us keep him warm. His body is getting used to the body heat you're giving off." Goku looked down at Gohan's pale shivering body before nodding.

"We need to get him to Bulma's house, I'm sure she has plenty of ways to keep him warm."

(With Gohan)

Gohan could feel his energy slipping away faster and faster, which meant that his soul was fading away as well. 'Man, if this keeps up I'll be gone even before the day is up!' He complained before forcing one of his eyes opened. 'There has to be a way to stop all the others from getting hurt, but how?'

(With Goku)

"Bulma! BULMA! ARE YOU HOME!" Goku hollered as loud as he could into the large Capsule Corp house, making the children and Piccolo have to cover their ears. "BULMA!" He called again before seeing a rather tall blue haired women step out of one of the hallways, covering her ears as well.

"I'm here Goku!" She yelled back before seeing the shaking teen in Goku's arms, her face paling a bit with worry. "Go, Gohan?"

Goku's face became stern again as he walked forward towards her. "There's no time to explain Bulma, we NEED to keep Gohan warm or he'll die!" Goku said plainly, trying to hold back tears that were trying to fall. Bulma looked up at him before nodding.

"This way…"

(With Akuryou)

"Hm…now where did I find Gohan?" Akuryou wondered before spotting the forest area where he snatched the pure boy. "Oh, found it…" He chuckled before zooming on past the trees until he spotted a house. 'That must be it, but I better let those twits rest so they don't die on me…'

(With Gohan)

Gohan's anger was flaring, but he kept it under control. If he lost his temper in a small area like this, he could really hurt all these kids that were in here, and he couldn't bear that. 'If only-' His thoughts were cut off as the veins released him and sinking back where they came from, causing him to fall on the rough yet strange feeling surface. 'Wa, what just happened?' He wondered before looking around. Everyone else was free as well, which brought much relief to him and quickly scrambled over to Sarah. It was harder then he thought since he still felt the strange tingling sensation, but he managed it anyway.

"Sarah, Sarah are you okay?" Gohan asked as he gently shook the girl. Her eyes looked like they were forcing themselves shut and she was trembling all over. 'Guess this takes a toll on regular humans…' His thoughts trailed off before noticing that she was relaxing at the sound of his voice. "Sarah?"

Sarah slowly opened her eyes even though she couldn't fathom the pain she was feeling and forced a half hearted smile. "He, hey Go, Goh-an…" She trailed off before shivering again, but found the strength to keep her eyes opened. Gohan smiled back at her with more love and strength, she could tell he cared about everyone that he meant.

"You alright? You don't look too good." He said honestly. She stiffened back a giggle as it hurt too much to even blink.

"I, I ha, have to, to rest…" She trailed off before falling unconscious. Gohan made sure that his smile didn't fade until she was asleep. 'I'm going to make him pay for doing this; he's going to regret ever kidnapping children!' Gohan promised himself before hearing laughter, an evil familiar laughter.

"It seems like you're the only one still awake, no surprise there though…" Akuryou chuckled, causing Gohan's anger to spike up again. "You see, they're just here to give me some energy so that I don't have to use your pure energy just flying and sparing." Gohan's eyes widened, fearing what he was thinking. "You see my dear boy, once this day is up, my body will finally see that you're in me and fuse you with me, at least, fuse your power with me." Gohan scowled, he didn't like people who played around with others.

"I'LL NEVER BE APART OF YOU!" Gohan screamed as he clenched his fists in anger. Akuryou chuckled some more.

"Like you have a choice! You see, I was created to souly find the purest child on the planet and fuse with him, that way I would be the most powerful person in the universe!"

"If you're plans are evil, why do you need pure people then?"

"Because, those who aren't pure have rotted energy and therefore, aren't clean. Yours on the other hand…have clean blood…" He trailed off before Gohan saw a ghostly figure of Akuryou appear in front if him, smirking ever so deviously. Gohan immediately got into a fighting stance, but the veins popped out once more and rapped themselves around him. "Stop struggling Gohan, you're only hurting yourself." He chuckled as he reached his hand out to him. Gohan tried to turn his head away, but the vain around his neck got tighter and tighter and forced him to stay still, causing him to cough violently from the lack of oxygen.

This seemed to please Akuryou even more as he began caressing Gohan's hair again. Gohan tried to move, but the veins only got tighter and began to crush his neck. "You know, you wouldn't be feeling this pain if you just allowed me to do what I pleased with you…" He sighed before smirking again. He enjoyed listening to Gohan's attempts to try and breathe air in and the sounds he made as he tried to, but failed. The demon's hand then trailed out of his hair and caressed his checks.

Gohan hated this. He hated this, this demon touching him like this. Only his mother, father and Piccolo could! He wanted to tare this guy limp from limp so he couldn't touch him again, but there was a growing fear arising within him. It wasn't that he was stronger then him, it was the same fear abused kids got. 'No…I won't be scared if this guy no matter what he does to me!' Gohan snapped before feeling himself slipping into unconsciousness. The lack of air was dawning upon him now and his throat was about to collapse.

Akuryou laughed in much delight as he listened to Gohan's attempt in breathing some more until his head flopped all over the place. The veins only tightened even more until he heard a snap, and he felt himself go into complete darkness.

"Hope you enjoy your 'little' reunion because once I leave your home land I'm forcing you back!"