Eclipse

by DoraMouse

ooxoo

Crossfire: October 6th, 763 A.D.

Sensei.

The ghosts wanted to keep Ranshin alive. She was a psychic and a medium - the ghosts could talk to her. They could to talk to other people through her. Only a handful of creatures on Earth had the gift. In theory, everyone on the planet had the potential but only a handful had developed it into a skill. Thus it was important, the ghosts thought, to preserve the few living creatures that could hear them.

So when Ranshin had run away, advice from ghosts had kept her alive. And when the dark mist had fallen to Earth four days ago, the ghosts had knocked her out. Ranshin had not been turned into a zombie. She had been training inside the dojo when she had fainted. She had recovered later the same day, after Garlic Juniors defeat, and she had continued training. She hadn't even realized, at first... Well. No. Not quite. Ranshin HAD sort of realized. The eerie unnatural stillness of the dojo and surrounding city. The charged atmosphere. Wave after wave of distant sirens. The sickening feeling of dread that had crept up her spine and made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end.

Ranshin had realized that something very bad had happened to the world. She'd spent a day trying to ignore it. Trying to train. Trying to focus on the positive.

Trying to brace herself for what she expected to see when she left her room.

It had been worse than she'd imagined. Much worse.

And - thanks to the numerous spirits around her - she was one of the few people on Earth with a rough idea of what had taken place. Not that it made a lot of sense. Ghosts had tried to tell her about an evil alien and a dark cloud. But currently, Ranshin had trouble hearing them clearly. Because there were so MANY new ghosts. All talking at once.

For Ranshin, the last four days had been one big migraine interspersed with vivid moments of shock, terror and sadness.

Sensei Jitsugen...

He had not been so fortunate. Yet Ranshin could not complain. Not after the devestation she'd witnessed in the past few days. Sensei Jitsugen was, at least, still alive. Barely, at the moment but he would recover. He had to. All the doctors had predicted that he would. Ranshin believed them.

She was four, nearly five, years old. The doctors used big words. Ranshin didn't understand them most of the time and the ghosts weren't helping much. The new ghosts were confused and scared and rather surprised to be dead. They didn't answer her questions because they were too busy asking their own questions. The old ghosts - the ones that had been dead for more than a week - were preoccupied with the need to comfort their new peers.

Ranshin could hear all of the spirits. But it was as if they'd stopped listening to her. So she didn't know what exactly was wrong with Sensei Jitsugen. She did understand that it was serious. The doctors had told her that her sensei would not be able to teach martial arts anymore. She did understand that.

And it made her eager to leave the hospital. Because she had to train. Now more than ever. She wasn't old enough to teach martial arts. She wasn't certified to teach. She couldn't take over the dojo. But there was hope. The local tournaments. As long as they weren't cancelled again - that issue was in debate - she had to enter them. It wasn't just about making her sensei proud and searching for the other genetic children anymore. She had to win the prize money. For Sensei Jitsugen. Because if he couldn't teach martial arts then what would happen to him? How was he supposed to pay his bills?

She paced. Back and forth, back and forth. Never straying far from the doorway. The big double doors were closed. Sensei Jitsugen was on the other side, Ranshin wasn't entirely sure what the doctors were doing to him. Operating. Whatever that meant.

Ranshin shuddered. She had a bad feeling about all this. It made her glad, actually, that she didn't know the details.

There was, however, the larger problem.

The hospital was packed. Absolutely crammed full of people with every sort of injury imaginable. The doctors - many of whom were starting to suffer from exhaustion - were having to turn away people whose injuries weren't life-threatening. Yet patients still filled the rooms and lined the hallways. Riots in the lobby were frequent.

In fact, this was the third hospital that Ranshin had been in. The first one had been too crowded so they'd put Sensei Jitsugen on a helicopter. The second hospital had run out of - or perhaps, had been robbed of - supplies. So Sensei Jitsugen had been flown here. It did strike Ranshin as a tiny bit strange that Sensei Jitsugen seemed to warrant special treatment. With so many people injured, it did seem as if an awful lot of effort was going into saving one relatively unknown martial arts sensei. Still. Ranshin was grateful. A little bit perplexed by the special treatment but grateful anyway.

She paced and stared at her feet. She tried to ignore the view from the window.

Ranshin had never seen the city outside before. Never set foot in it. Wasn't even sure what the name of the place was. But... Ranshin had the distinct feeling that if she had been standing here, looking out at the city a week ago... Then she wouldn't recognize what was left of the city today.

Traffic accidents were the worst. People had crashed into each other, into buildings, into everything. The vehicles were strewn all over. Aircars hanging out skyscraper windows. Trucks half buried in houses. And with the collisions had come the fires, many of which continued to burn. Dark smoke clogged the skyline. There just weren't enough healthly people to put the flames out.

Ranshin felt awful beyond words. There were so many people in need of help. She wanted to do something yet she grew rigid just thinking about it. Where to begin? She couldn't decide. Who would accept her help anyway? She was a little girl with three eyes. People might be afraid of her. What if that just made the situation worse?

Above all else, Ranshin felt guilt and anger. This was outrageous! That one stupid evil alien could come along and cause so much pain. What gave aliens the right?! What gave ANYONE the right?

Could she have prevented it? Ranshin wasn't sure why but she felt that maybe she could have made a difference. She took a calming breath. "Peace over anger." She reminded herself and, with some difficulty, turned the emotions off.

She wasn't out to prove anything. But next time... And there WOULD be a next time, Ranshin thought, because she was only four and had already seen the world endangered twice in her life. And next time... Those evil aliens were gonna regret picking on Earth. Ranshin wasn't certain how she would accomplish this. But she resolved that she would.

Right then, a pair of mangled young people walked past. Completely ignoring her. But Ranshin saw them. Ranshin saw the direction they had gone. And Ranshin knew what they were.

Androids.

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A hospital. Of all places. Tenshinhan resented hospitals. He was nearly thirty years old. He didn't need hospitals. He could take care of himself, as he had done for most of his life.

Why the doctors hadn't kicked him out yet, Tenshinhan did not know. Considering the number of people around who were in far more immediate need of medical care, it didn't make any sense. But all seven of the other warriors on Earth - plus both Puar and Oolong - had threatened to injure him if he left the hospital before the doctors excused him.

Kuririn, Yamucha, Master Roshi, Yajirobe, Piccolo, Gohan and Chaozu. In one-on-one battles, Tenshinhan knew that he could beat most of them. Chaozu would be difficult, Piccolo could be a challenge and Gohan - if the kid didn't back out of the fight completely - might be a close call. But defeat all of them at once? Not right now, anyway. Nobody was guarding him. But they could all sense his ki. So Tenshinhan stayed in the hospital. Leaning against the wall of a corridor. Refusing to lay down and rest. Trying to ignore the multiple IVs that were now attached to his arms.

Apparently he'd been gone for three days. So there was a very real chance that something had happened to him while he'd been unconscious. Tenshinhan did not like to dwell on this concept. Instead he closed his eyes and focused on the kis of the world. And was able to see - to sense - the amount of damage that Garlic Junior had caused in one day. Ki is personal energy. Ki is attached to emotion. Everywhere on Earth there was a vast sense of emptiness and loss. The pained energies of living creatures served only to highlight the numerous absences.

He picked out the energies of the Earths Special Forces and wondered why the warriors had even let the media call them that. They hadn't defended Earth. They had tried, on more than one occasion, to defend Earth but without Goku victory seemed impossible.

It was aggravating. With all due respect to Goku, he didn't deserve the credit. He just didn't. Because right now, out there, the other defenders of Earth were doing everything in their collective power to help resolve a crisis. Chaozu, Yamucha, Kuririn, Gohan, Yajirobe, Korin, Mister Popo, Piccolo and Kami. Each in a different city. Each one no doubt helping to pull survivors from the wreckage and put out flames. Even Puar and Oolong were helping out. Even Master Roshi and his elder sister, Madame Baba. Even ChiChi and Ox King. Even Bulmas parents. Maybe even Bulma. And there were new heros emerging. Some guy called Hercule, for example, had been in the news a lot recently for his dedication to the rescue efforts in Satan City. True. Goku probably would have helped as well, if he had been around. But he wasn't around. Goku hardly ever seemed to be around for this kind of thing - the clean up. Of course, if Goku HAD been around in the first place... This wouldn't have happened, would it?

Tenshinhan hated to think this way. While he had some grudges against Goku, those were few and far between. It was hard to hold a grudge against someone who was either dead or lost in space. Really, it wasn't so much the warrior as the war. Tenshinhan didn't understand why a planet should rely on a single person - or Saiyan, as the case may be - to protect it. Technically... Why should a planet expect protection?

Some part of Tenshinhan wanted to leave the hospital and help rescue people. It was a small part. Mostly he just wanted to go home and ignore the Earths problems. He was tired and he had his own problems to deal with.

What point was there in saving people today if you couldn't defend them in the future? Why worry about people dying? Those who died would probably get wished back to life, as soon as the dragonballs were useable again. Therefore rescuing people seemed noble and yet at the same time, a complete waste of effort. Same for training. What good was training? Tenshinhan had been knocked unconcious by the dark mist and then sedated for three days. He hadn't been given a chance to fight Garlic Junior. Why should he believe that future invaders would give him a chance?

Tenshinhan wondered if his presence would have made a difference at the battles against Garlic Junior four days ago. And he sincerely doubted it. Tenshinhan acknowledged his own power. But what good was strength going to do when he was up against magics or chemicals?

It wasn't natural. It just wasn't natural. The whole situation. Evil aliens abruptly showing up out of nowhere and causing mass destruction. Wishing back entire populations. It was just ... Wrong. Why not leave the dead people dead? They were mortal - they couldn't live forever. They were going to die again someday anyway. And why not destroy the dragonballs? Maybe evil aliens wouldn't be drawn to Earth so frequently if the planet didn't have the artifacts.

The natural balance of things was off. Tenshinhan could not look forward to the future. Because these things ... The effects ... Earth was breaking natural laws. And nature was, philosophically speaking, the ultimate assassin. Mess with a killer of that caliber and ... Yea. The Earths future wasn't going to be pretty. Tenshinhan didn't have to be psychic to know that much.

If only they could get the balance back.

Tenshinhan was close to dozing off when the corridor exploded. Almost literally. A power level jumped into existence and filled the hallway with a pale green glow. It wasn't a massively strong ki - above average but nowhere near the levels that human members of Earths Special Forces had attained. It was, however, extremely hostile.

A scream. Or was it a warcry? And then ... A blistering wave of light.

... Taiyouken?

Someone inside the building was using one of his attacks?!

Tenshinhan was caught off guard by the concept and likewise by the attack. So he spent a moment blinded and wondering where the heck the unfamiliar ki was coming from. Who did it belong to? He assumed, of course, that the owner of the hostile ki had to be after him.

Just as Ranshin had assumed that the androids had to be after her.

While she was not a match for Earths Special Forces in power or speed... Ranshin had been created by the Red Ribbon Army. She had been designed to fight android prototypes. She'd been doing that for most of her life. She knew where to aim.

Another warcry. A blur of movement. The sound of shattering glass.

Tenshinhans bewilderment multiplied. He could not begin to believe what he'd just seen go by. Some little girl had kicked a ki-less opponent through the window at the end of the hall. Where had the kid learned to fly? Where had the kid learned taiyouken? And he couldn't have seen her face right. He flat out refused to believe that.

A firey explosion outside rocked the building. Tenshinhan decided that he wasn't critically dehydrated anymore, so he ripped out the IVs and went to investigate.

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Not THEM too! Jeez! This just was not her week!

Ranshin landed, took cover and forced her power down.

Tearing androids to pieces was one thing. Easy enough, if you knew where to aim. Because the Red Ribbon scientists had always been a bit frightened of androids. They'd never admitted it, not around Dr. Gero. Yet it was obvious. The scientists had wanted a safeguard. A way to destroy any android that turned against them. That's why the androids - even the prototypes - always had an internal bomb. Just in case.

So destroying an android was a matter of aim and speed. Hit the bomb. Hard. Get out of range. Fast. Badda bing, badda boom. With emphasis on the boom. Okay. So it wasn't always THAT easy. The androids had a LOT of armor to get through but knowing where to aim helped. And all the training Ranshin had done, especially in the last few months, also helped.

Earths Special Forces, though ... Ranshin only had vague ideas about how they fought. The Crane Master had made her study videos - running in super-slow motion so that the images weren't simply blurs - of them at past Tenkaichi Budoukais. But the warriors had probably changed since then. Their fighting styles and everything. So, despite her own improvements, Ranshin wasn't a hundred percent sure that she could beat them.

She didn't really want to fight them anyway. She'd heard stories about the warriors of Earths Special Forces. They had died. Now they were alive again. Ranshin did not want opponents like that.

Ah. Only one of them. Good. Maybe she could outrun the warrior. But if she took off then how was she going to get back in the hospital? The other android, Android 12, was still inside somewhere. What if Sensei Jitsugen was in danger?

Ranshin could detect energy but she didn't understand the talent. Neither of her teachers had really been able to detect ki. The ghosts that she was surrounded by, they couldn't detect ki. No one had explained it to her. So Ranshin was vaguely aware of the various higher-than-average energies on Earth but she didn't understand what this meant. She didn't know that she was sensing people - their moods, their power levels and their direction relative to her. She didn't realize that other people might also be able to detect her in this way, even when she was powered down.

She certainly didn't realize how much fear she was projecting in her ki.

The lone warrior hovered above for a few long moments then flew away. Ranshin released the breath she'd been holding and shot back into the hospital.

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